Delaware's school mask mandate to end Tuesday, March 1

Delaware to end mask mandate for schools on March 1

Public and private schools in Delaware will no longer be required to wear masks in school on Tuesday evening. FOX 29's Shaynah Ferreira has the details.

DOVER, Del. - Delaware public and private schools will no longer be required to wear masks in school as of Tuesday evening – one month before the mandate was originally set to end.

On Monday, Gov. John Carney announced that masking requirements in Delaware school will no longer be in effect as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 1. Vaccine or testing requirements for educators and state employees will also expire at 11:59 p.m. Monday.

Back in early February, Carney dropped the state’s universal indoor masking requirement and set March 31 as the original deadline to end the requirement on masking in schools.

Masking requirements in most state facilities will also be lifted on Wednesday, March 2. Additional guidance for state employees will be issued later Monday by the Department of Human Resources.

Carney says the announcement of the accelerated timeline is consistent new masking guidance issued by the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday. That guidance outlines a new set of measures for communities where COVID-19 is easing its grip, with less of a focus on positive test results and more on what’s happening at hospitals.

The new system greatly changes the look of the CDC’s risk map and puts more than 70% of the U.S. population in counties where the coronavirus is posing a low or medium threat to hospitals. Those are the people who can stop wearing masks, the agency said.

The agency is still advising that people, including schoolchildren, wear masks where the risk of COVID-19 is high.

"There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about where we’re headed," Carney said in a news release issued Monday. "Over the last month, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have fallen dramatically, and we are clearly moving into a new phase of this pandemic. Today’s announcement is consistent with new guidance from the CDC. And it’s consistent with the latest thinking from Delaware’s experts at the Division of Public Health. Delawareans who want to continue wearing a mask - including children in our schools - should be supported and encouraged to do so, even as we move into this new phase. We’ll also continue to encourage all eligible Delawareans to get up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations."

Delaware’s State of Emergency will be lifted at 6 p.m. Tuesday, in favor of a more narrow Public Health Emergency Order. Carney says the new order will allow hospitals and long-term care facilities continued flexibility in COVID-19 response.