Masks are no longer required on school buses for Auburn City Schools, Opelika City Schools and Lee County Schools.
On Feb. 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped requiring individuals to wear masks and facial coverings on “buses or vans operated by public or private school systems, including early care and education/child care programs,” according to the CDC website.
The CDC first issued the mandate requiring individuals to wear masks on public transportation in January of 2021.
Because positive COVID-19 cases have plummeted and the indoor mask requirement has been lifted in most areas, the CDC made the change for public transportation to align with the updated guidelines.
The guideline “no longer recommends universal indoor mask wearing in K-12 and early education settings in areas with a low or medium COVID-19 community level,” according to the CDC.
Lee County currently has a low COVID-19 community level.
People are also reading…
After Christmas break, Auburn and Opelika City School reinstated masks in schools because of the high increase in positive cases in the area. Lee County Schools never reinstated masks, though masks were still required on buses because of the CDC requirement.
As the numbers decreased, OCS lifted the requirement for masks in schools on Jan. 28 and ACS lifted it on Feb. 14.
The week before spring break, Feb. 28 to March 4, ACS reported one confirmed positive COVID-19 case and no students received notice of possible exposure at school.
The Alabama Department of Public Heath stopped reporting case number updates on March 3 because of spring break, but according to the last update, OCS had zero reported cases and LCS had less than five cases.
ADPH will continue releasing updates starting April 7.
The school systems continue to ask parents and guardians to check students for symptoms and to keep them student if they have symptoms of illness.
