MERIDIAN, Idaho — The West Ada Board of Trustees voted Monday evening to get rid of a mask requirement for students and staff after they return from Thanksgiving break.
Masks will be optional in school beginning Nov. 29.
Officials say they will continue to follow the same positive case notification process of alerting parents or guardians when a positive case was reported in one or more of their child's classrooms.
Families are asked to monitor their children for symptoms of COVID-19, and keep them home from school if they are sick.
During Idaho Health and Welfare's weekly COVID meeting, state epidemiologist Doctor Christine Hahn said that districts were acting too quick in dropping mask mandates.
"We have a little over 8,000 kids in the 5-11 year age group vaccinated which is just a small fraction of the over 100,000 kids in the age group," Dr. Hahn said. "We are worried that it's too hasty, we want to give a chance to get those kids vaccinated."
The vote to make masks optional comes after the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 in late October. The vaccine had already been approved for those 12 and up.
Some West Ada parents believe the Nov. 29 date to lift the mask mandate is not giving them enough time to fully vaccinate their children.
"My daughter is at home sick with a cough. She's had her first COVID vaccine but I can't be sure that she doesn't have COVID, and I can't send her to school with a cough," said Destinie Hart, a West Ada parent. "This is why we see women drop out of the workforce. This is why we see parents using all of their sick time to keep their kiddos home."
Other parents not only worry about the health and safety of their loved ones once the mask mandate is suspended, but they worry about the social impact it will have on their children.
"I feel like maybe 11-year-olds they are impressionable and [say], 'Oh, my friend wasn't wearing it and they said I look goofy with it, so I didn't and now I'm sick,' so there's a little bit of worry there," said Amanda Jazenboski, a West Ada parent.
The Caldwell School Board made a similar decision to drop the mask requirement for its schools on Nov. 9, citing the approval of the vaccine.
COVID-19 infections are less common in children than adults, and so far, cases among children appear to have been milder, making up just 2% of hospitalizations from the virus.
Health officials have warned that could change with mutations to COVID-19, however, and urged parents to vaccinate their children, noting that the young can still infect others, become very sick, or suffer long-term fatigue or other effects from the illness if they catch it.
Idaho recorded its first child death, an infant from Southwest Idaho, in October.
Vaccination requires two doses three weeks apart, plus two more weeks to achieve full protection, meaning kids vaccinated before Thanksgiving will be fully protected by Christmas.
West Ada initially allowed students and staff to opt out of the mask requirement near the beginning of the school year, then reversed course and made face coverings mandatory for all in September as cases surged.
Masks will continue to be required for the rest of this week. The Thanksgiving break begins on Monday, with no school all next week.
"We again want to thank our students, families, and staff for their efforts in maintaining our safety protocols and mitigation strategies and being supportive as we navigate through this school year," West Ada Schools wrote in an email.
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