Archdiocese of Miami changes mask requirements for its schools after COVID-19 case rise
When students and staff in schools run by the Archdiocese of Miami return to classes Monday, they’ll be required to wear masks, the Catholic organization announced Saturday.
And that requirement will be in place “regardless of vaccination status or parental request to waive the requirement” for students 2 years old and up.
Previously, parents could decide whether or not their children should wear a mask. But, the archdiocese took that choice away, pointing to a ”substantial increase in positive cases per 100,000 people in the tri-county area in the last four weeks” as well as a rising positive test rate and an increased number of the infected in Miami-Dade county being aged 5 to 17.
This requirement is scheduled to remain in place for the first three weeks of January, but the archdiocese says it might lengthen or shorten that time period, as it deems necessary.
Parents are asked to get students tested with the PCR test or the rapid antigen test before Monday if there’s any chance the child has been exposed to COVID-19 virus during the holiday break.
This covers 61 schools and three stand-alone pre-schools in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties, including Belen Jesuit, Our Lady of Lourdes, Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas and Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is making adults, but not students, mask up as schools starts again this coming week. Visitors and vendors at Broward County Public Schools have to wear masks, but they’re only recommended for staff and students.
