L.A. Unified School District Slow To Follow Counties Changes

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is currently slated to keep its mandate on outdoor mask-wearing until at least the end of the week, despite the fact that Los Angeles County took steps on Wednesday to drop the outdoor segment of its mask mandates.

This past Tuesday evening, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho put out a tweet with the news that read: “Los Angeles Unified has remained aligned with our health partners throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. I will continue to coordinate with our Medical Director Dr. Smita Malhotra and Los Angeles County officials as our positivity rates from the Omicron variant decrease. Los Angeles Unified will keep the current guidelines in place for the remainder of this week and will announce changes to our outdoor masking guidance as early as next week.”

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, “The district will consult with expert advisors and consider later this week whether it would be appropriate to lift the outdoor mask mandate as early as the beginning of next week, Carvalho said during a visit Wednesday morning to Fremont High School in South Los Angeles. He said it was premature to discuss the parameters for lifting the indoor mask mandate.”

Just last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District put out a statement banning students from using cloth masks.

All students were being forced to wear “well-fitted, non-cloth masks with a nose wire” at all times, including time spent outdoors. “District officials said surgical masks or higher-grade masks were acceptable, and that such masks would be available to students upon request,” stated a report from The Los Angeles Times.

“Our in-school [coronavirus infection] rates have dropped but we are continuing to be diligent and agile in creating the safest learning environment,” stated a spokesperson for LAUSD, Shannon Haber, at that time. She went on to state that the decision to forgo cloth masks was started by following guidelines from L.A. County health officials.

LAUSA also planned to require that all students over the age of 12 be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus before the fall of 2022.

Recently, the state of California has taken steps to lift its mandates for indoor mask wearing for all fully vaccinated people.

As read on the state’s website:

Everyone is required to wear masks in:

  • Public transit and in stations, terminals, and airports
  • Indoors in K-12 schools and childcare
  • Healthcare settings
  • State and local correctional facilities and detention centers
  • Homeless shelters
  • Long-term care settings and adult and senior care facilities

It went on to state:

Masks are required for unvaccinated people and recommended for everyone in:

  • Indoor public settings
  • Retail
  • Restaurants
  • Theaters
  • Family entertainment centers
  • Meetings
  • State and local government offices that serve the public

 

Share

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *