Northam orders mask mandate in Virginia’s K-12 schools

(The Center Square) – All teachers, students and staff in Virginia will be forced to wear face coverings in the commonwealth’s K-12 schools while indoors, regardless of vaccination status, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday.

The governor signed a Public Emergency Health Order to impose the mandate amid the rise of the COVID-19 delta variant and new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC guidelines, which were updated about a week ago, recommend universal masking in schools after evidence showed a small portion of fully vaccinated people were contracting and spreading the virus. The cases spreading from vaccinated people were usually more mild than cases from unvaccinated people.

According to Northam, the order reinforces Senate Bill 1303, which says schools shall adhere to any currently applicable CDC mitigation strategies to the maximum extent practicable. Although the governor interpreted the law to require a mask mandate amid the CDC’s new guidelines, the legislation was passed prior to that change and many Republican lawmakers accused him of misrepresenting and lying about the law.

Amid the disagreements, the governor’s new order squashes any ambiguity about the policy going forward. It replaces the governor’s order from less than a month ago, which would have left the decision up to local school divisions.

“We all share the same goal of keeping our schools open and keeping our students safe,” Northam said in a statement. “That’s why the General Assembly passed this law with overwhelming bipartisan support. This Public Health Order makes it very clear that masks are required in all indoor K-12 settings, and Virginia expects all schools to comply. I’m grateful to the work of the General Assembly and the Health Department, and I look forward to a safe start to the school year.”

The governor’s order faced immediate pushback from Republican lawmakers who had been fighting against mask mandates in any setting.

“Today’s statewide mandate is a triumph of bureaucracy over common sense,” House Republican leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said in a statement. “The idea of keeping masks on two-year-olds is the kind of thing that could only have been thought up by someone who has never dealt with a two-year-old. Further, local school divisions are best equipped to make their own decisions on whether or not to require masks in schools. I urge the Northam administration to change course. Regardless, this mandate cannot and must not be a trial run for a new round of lockdowns. Virginia has only begun to recover from the last round of overly broad restrictions. We can keep Virginians safe without destroying their livelihoods.”

CDC guidelines also recommended people wear face coverings in high-transmission regions of the country, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated. Northam urged all Virginians to wear face coverings indoors, but stopped short of imposing another mandate.

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