McKee to lift Rhode Island's indoor mask mandate Friday, schools March 4
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Gov. Dan McKee officially announced the end of the statewide indoor mask mandate, as well as the proof of vaccination protocol, during a COVID-19 media briefing Wednesday afternoon.
It will end Friday, with the statewide school mask mandate to stop March 4, a week after children return from February break.
“Our team feels we can confidently and safely take this next step based on decreasing COVID numbers and increasing vaccination rates,” McKee said, noting that cases have been down nearly 94% across the state since January.
“We currently have the eighth lowest percent positivity rate in the country right now,” he added.
McKee also said mask policies will be decided by individual school districts.
“This will keep our economy open and our kids in school,” he said.
The update comes as states across the nation already dropped mask mandates at schools.
A spokesperson for McKee told NBC 10 News that the governor met with key education stakeholders and had calls with neighboring state governors regarding school masking.
Earlier on Wednesday, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said the Bay State will lift its mask requirements for K-12 schools February 28.
“With this state-driven change, Rhode Island will be aligning with other nearly states like Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Delaware, when it comes to masks in schools,” McKee said.
“Over the next several weeks before this change takes effect, we expect that numbers will continue to decline, putting us in a strong position to transition to local decision making on school masks,” he added. ‘We want to give districts plenty of time to plan, and we want to give parents an additional opportunity to have discussions at the local level and also get their kids vaccinated in this time frame.”
About 80 percent of all Rhode Islanders have had at least the first round of shots.
Angelica Infante-Green, who is the state’s education commissioner, said districts vary in terms of vaccination rates. She said Providence, Central Falls, and Woonsocket, are lagging.
“We have to do better,” Infante-Green said, noting that the vaccination rate in Providence is 32%. “What I would say is parents need to get their kids vaccinated.”
A few hours after McKee said he’d be lifting the school mask mandate by March 4, the National Education Association of Rhode Island issued a statement, which noted that the organization is “cautiously optimistic that the current statewide school mask mandate can be safely relaxed in the near future,” if the current trends continue.
“We look forward to additional guidance from our public health leaders that supports relaxing the mask mandate in schools as we get closer to March 4,” the statement also noted. “We urge Governor McKee to continue analyzing COVID data with his team of public health experts and to do whatever necessary to protect the health and safety of our students and staff – including reimposing a mask mandate if data trends change.”
Meanwhile, McKee said an announcement about school athletes wearing masks will come soon but added that the end date will likely align with the March 4 end of statewide school mask mandate.
Rhode Island Department of Health Director Dr. James McDonald said the new mask announcement does not mean masks are no longer needed in schools, rather, that the state is ending its mandate and control goes to the school districts.
“We’re giving schools the ability to make their own decisions,” McDonald said.
COVID-19 case numbers have dropped from their peak after the holidays.
Still, McDonald urged people who aren't feeling well to get tested before going to Super Bowl parties, saying they could risk bringing an illness to someone else's house.
He also said anyone who has an underlying condition, such as heart disease, diabetes, or kidney disease, might still want to wear a mask, adding that individuals are still obligated to mask up while riding public transportation, per federal requirement.
McKee said Rhode Island has made “considerable progress” against COVID-19. He also noted that “we are in a much different place” since the recent surge and he is confident the pandemic is coming to an end.
“We have to learn how to manage COVID as we move from a pandemic to an endemic stage of the virus,” McKee said. “It’s all about having flexibility to adapt and emphasizing personal responsibility.”