Governor Wolf announced today that effective September 7, students, teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools will be required to wear masks when indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
The order will not apply to student athletes while they’re playing.
Even though less than a month ago Governor Wolf stated that he had no intention of implementing a statewide mask mandate for schools, he cited that his reversal is due to the increased number of COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania and large numbers of students needing to be quarantined.
KEYTA recently reported on August 20 an updated exception to CDC’s close contact guidance which changes when students are considered to be a “close contact”. The update is below:
Close Contact:
Close Contact through Proximity and Duration of Exposure: Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person (laboratory-confirmed or a clinically compatible illness) for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. An infected person can spread SARS-CoV-2 starting from 2 days before they have any symptoms (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days before the positive specimen collection date), until they meet criteria for discontinuing home isolation.
- Exception: In the K–12 indoor classroom setting, the close contact definition excludes students who were within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student (laboratory-confirmed or a clinically compatible illness) if both the infected student and the exposed student(s) correctly and consistently wore well-fitting masks the entire time.
This exception does not apply to teachers, staff, or other adults in the indoor classroom setting.
Please do not hesitate to contact KEYTA at 717-763-1168 or info@keyta.org if you have any questions regarding this updated mandate.
