A teacher adjusts a mask on one of her students at Lafayette Elementary School in Clairemont. File photo by Chris Stone
The San Diego Unified School District said Friday that students and staff must wear masks indoors through the end of summer school because San Diego County is now in the CDC’s “high” risk category for COVID.
The district told parents in May that masking would be required if infections reached that level, and that happened on Thursday with hospitalizations exceeding 10 per 100,000 population.
“Effective Monday, July 18, indoor masking will be required at all schools and district offices. This includes indoor masking at any level-up facility,” according to a COVID policy update on the district’s website.
“We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 community level according to the CDC and county data and we will communicate if there are any changes in two weeks,” the district said.
If the hospitalization rate does not decline before the start of school on Aug. 29, masks could continue to be required indoors.
The recent spike in infections across the country has been driven by new virus subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.