**For more on COVID in Ohio, watch below.
(WJW/AP) — As more states and communities drop mask mandates in schools, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the agency still recommends students still wear masks in the classroom.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during an interview Tuesday that while she’s “cautiously optimistic…that things are going in the right direction,” the agency will continue to evaluate science when making recommendations.
“And right now, we still have about 290,000 (COVID) cases every single day, and hospitalization rates are higher than they even were at the peak of the delta surge,” she told WYPR’s Tom Hall. “Our recommendations are consistent with encouraging students to wear well-fitting masks.”
The governors of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Oregon this week announced plans to lift mandates in schools by the end of February or March.
In Ohio, masks are not mandated. Some districts have been enforcing masks in classrooms, while others have dropped those policies.
Walensky acknowledged that mask policy decisions are supposed to happen at the state and local levels and depending on local statistics and research. But she said rates are still “extraordinarily high across the nation.”
As far as a change to the CDC’s guidance, she said a good barometer will be “how our hospitals are doing” and if they have room for and are capable of caring for non-COVID patients.
“Right now across the country,” she said, “our hospitals are still in crunch mode.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
