Masks optional as Gwinnett County students return to school Monday morning

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Students and teachers in the state’s largest school district can decide whether or not they want to wear a mask when they return to school Monday morning.

Gwinnett County Public Schools announced on Friday that they would be moving to a mask-optional model beginning this week.

The District did confirm that will continue to “strongly encourage” everyone to wear a mask, but will no longer require it.

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The move comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their mask guidance on Friday to say that areas with low levels of transmission could scale back on wearing masks indoors.

The statistics the CDC is using to determine those levels are different than any other metric they’ve used for mask guidance since the beginning of the pandemic.

Based on these guidelines, Gwinnett County schools are part of the low range.

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Wearing masks has been a contentious issue over the last couple of years for Gwinnett County. The district’s masking policies led to protests from parents and even a lawsuit against the district.

The district said school leaders will be reviewing and updating quarantine and isolation procedures to in light of the new guidance.

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Atlanta Public Schools also announced on Friday that they would be switching to a mask-optional model beginning March 1.

IN RELATED NEWS:

Gov. Kemp to introduce legislation to allow parents to decide if kids wear masks at school Kemp said he thinks that the districts that are still mandating masks are doing it because of politics, not science.

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