Masks recommended for unvaccinated students in KY schools. What will Fayette do?

Jul. 16—Mask wearing in K-12 schools for those who aren't fully vaccinated was part of the new guidelines released late Thursday afternoon by the Kentucky Departments of Education and Public Health for the return to in-person learning this fall.

It's not immediately clear what that will mean for public schools in Lexington in the fall. On Thursday night, district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said the Fayette County Public Schools COVID-19 Core Team is still finalizing guidelines for the upcoming school year and they will be shared publicly when complete. The group is next scheduled to meet on Tuesday, July 20.

"Throughout the pandemic, Fayette County Public Schools has followed all recommendations from the Kentucky Department of Public Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and worked closely with our partners at the Health Department to prioritize the health and safety of our employees, students, and families and we will continue to do so," Deffendall said.

"This intentional and cautious approach enabled us to bring students and staff back to campus this spring and will be crucial to safely continuing with in-person learning when school begins again in August," she said. "We are in the process of reviewing the 'Guidance for K-12 school operations for in-person learning' document shared today by the Kentucky Department of Public Health as well as the most updated guidelines from the CDC released on July 9."

The state guidelines provide information on strategies that help protect students, teachers, and staff and slow the spread of COVID-19 in K-12 schools based on updated federal Centers for Disease Control recommendations. The strategies aim to protect individuals who are not fully vaccinated.

Level of community transmission of COVID-19 and occurrence of outbreaks in the community should be considered in decisions, state officials said.

The controversy over whether Kentucky students should wear masks at school in the fall is escalating, prompting some parents to launch a campaign asking the state to let families make their own decisions. A man was criminally charged in Louisville after he was accused of threatening the Jefferson County Schools superintendent after that district called for students who were not fully vaccinated to wear face coverings at school.

The guidelines released Thursday include:

— Promote and offer vaccinations to help increase the proportion of students , teachers, staff, and family members who are vaccinated.

— Recommend masks for unvaccinated persons while indoors in all classroom and non-classroom settings, unless otherwise exempted.

— Require masks on public transportation, including buses operated by public and private school systems, for all persons two years of age or older unless otherwise exempted.

— In general, people do not need to wear masks when outdoors, though mask use may be considered in outdoor settings that involve sustained close contact with other people who are not fully vaccinated

— Consider universal use of masks for all persons in schools with grades prekindergarten through 6 not eligible for vaccination, in instances of increasing or high COVID-19 transmission within the surrounding community and inability to monitor the vaccine status of students and/or teachers and staff.

— Physical distancing of at least 3 feet is recommended between K-12 students in classrooms where not everyone is fully vaccinated. To the greatest extent practicable, schools should reduce the number of students in each classroom, turn desks to face the same direction, utilize assigned seating, and remove nonessential furniture.

— Use a stable group with fixed membership that stays together through activities as an additional strategy that facilitates more efficient contact tracing and minimizes transmission.

— Implement screening testing for unvaccinated students, teachers, and/or staff to help promptly identify and isolate cases. In general, fully vaccinated persons should be exempted from a screening testing program.

— Improve facility ventilation to the greatest extent possible.

— Utilize outdoor spaces, where possible.

— Teach handwashing with soap and water for 20 seconds or use of hand sanitizer containing at least 60 percent alcohol.

— Ensure sick students, teachers, or staff stay home if they are having fever or symptoms of COVID-19.

— Fully-vaccinated persons do not need to quarantine following an exposure to a person diagnosed with COVID-19 if they are not experiencing symptoms.

— Improve facility cleaning.

— Nonessential visitors, volunteers, and activities with people who are not fully vaccinated should be limited at schools, particularly when there is moderate-to-high COVID-19 transmission in the community.

— For school-sponsored sports and extracurricular activities, fully vaccinated persons do not need to wear a mask or physically distance. Students who are not fully vaccinated and participate in indoor sports or other indoor higher-risk activities are recommended to continue wearing masks and keeping physical distance as much as possible Schools should consider using screening testing for student athletes and adult participants who are not fully vaccinated.

— Levels of community transmission are defined as total new cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days (low, 0-9; moderate 10-49; substantial, 50-99, high, greater than 100) and percentage of positive tests in the past 7 days (low, less than five percent, moderate, 5-7.9 percent; substantial, 8-9.9 percent;high, greater than 10 percent).

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