City of Rockland, RSU 13 announce March 4 updates to mask policies
ROCKLAND — In letters to the public March 4, both the City of Rockland and RSU 13 have announced the easing of mask restrictions in their departments.
The City announced that with the latest information from the Maine CDC lifting the restrictions of mask mandates for schools and daycares, Municipal Buildings will revert back to only requiring those that are not vaccinated to wear a mask and recommend all to wear a mask while conducting business in municipal buildings.
In an updated March 4 letter to parents, RSU 13 Superintendent John McDonald addressed a March 2 afternoon press release by Maine DHHS. The State department announced that as of Thursday March 3, all counties in Maine shifted to moderate risk. Because of that, DHHS dropped the mask recommendation, but left the ultimate decision with each school district. The announcement came after RSU 13 had announced that masks would be optional in its schools and on its busses starting Monday, March 7.
However, procedures remain in place for students, and staff who are either infected or close contacts to other infected parties. Some of those procedures are listed below:
Masks (3/4/2022)
-Masks are optional for those not currently recovering from COVID-19
-Masks are required by individuals completing their isolation and quarantine periods (e.g., days 6 to 10 if they have improved symptoms, fever free for 24 hours, and/or asymptomatic).
-Use of masking will be revisited as needed and pending any future changes in masking recommendations
Distancing (3/4/2022)
-Students and adults are encouraged to maintain distance as feasible.
“Though these are the most significant shifts, there are a few other changes as a result of moving to optional masking,” said the letter. “One change is that unvaccinated close contacts, such as those with an at-home exposure to a positive case, now need to quarantine since we no longer require universal masking, which created an exception for these individuals the past few months. We expect some additional changes to the CDC’s Standard Operating Procedures for schools next week that we will share if those changes have implications for families.”
