Masking Will Be Optional in California Schools Later Next Month
Sacramento, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom announces that mask requirements in California schools and childcare settings will be dropped effective March 12.
It falls on a Saturday, so the first-day students will no longer be required to mask up is Monday, March 14. He cites the declining COVID-19 case rate. The governor says masks will still be recommended, but not required. The governor has recently been criticized for loosening mask requirements in most public settings, but not schools.
Newsom says, “ We cannot predict the future of the virus, but we are better prepared for it and will continue to take measures rooted in science to keep California moving forward.”
The governor states that individual school districts, counties, and cities will still have the ability to implement their own masking requirements, if they so choose.
The governors of Washington and Oregon also announced similar plans today to lift the masking requirement in schools on March 12.
