ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Employees on Orange County Public Schools properties and vehicles no longer will be required to wear masks starting Thursday, the district announced Wednesday.
At this time, volunteers and visitors are still required to wear masks, OCPS officials said.
What You Need To Know
- Face masks will be optional on OCPS properties and vehicles starting Thursday
- Visitors and volunteers still are required to wear face coverings
- The policy change was announced by an OCPS spokesman Wednesday
- Falling COVID cases and positivity rates are down, and vaccinations are up
The district's face mask policy, implemented to try to protect staff and students at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been a point of contention with state leaders.
The policy requiring students to wear masks without a physician's opt-out was amended as of Nov. 1 to permit an opt-out with a note from a student's parent or guardian, but school employees and visitors still were required to wear masks.
Many parents in Orange County said they were not surprised by the decision to let a policy requiring a physician’s opt-out to expire Oct. 30, after the county lifted its COVID-19 state of emergency Wednesday and the state of Florida filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration's COVID mandates. But some said they had been hopeful the mandate would have stayed intact a little while longer.
At the time, OCPS Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins had said she thought face coverings could be made optional for employees and other adults after Dec. 3 or sooner, based on COVID data.
The number of COVID cases and the positivity rate have been trending downward consistently in recent weeks. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration have since made the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine available to children 5 to 11 years old. OCPS has been hosting vaccination clinics at high schools this week.
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