Cooper calls for NC schools, cities to lift mask mandates. Legislators pass mask bill.
Citing the state’s improved vaccination rate and COVID-19’s declining virulence, Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday called on North Carolina municipalities and school boards “to end their mask mandates.”
“This variant is clearly more contagious, yet generally causes less severe illness, particularly to people who are vaccinated and boosted, and now people know how to gauge their level of risk and decide how to best protect themselves,” Cooper said at a news conference.
“As a result of all these factors, I encourage schools and local governments to end their mask mandates.”
Cooper’s recommendation came almost at the same moment that state legislators were voting a bill that would let parents, rather than school boards, decide whether their children wear masks in schools.
Kody Kinsley, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, encouraged schools to move to voluntary masking starting March 7, “at the discretion of local authorities.”
“We’ll be updating our guidance for schools, as we mentioned, and also childcare, but also for local governments,” Kinsley said. “We’ll be recommending for the general public that right now universal masking is not the strategy — that vaccines are our most important strategy in those settings.”
In North Carolina, Cooper lifted most of the statewide mask mandate in May 2021 after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its guidance. But this school year, most districts followed the state health department guidelines, which recommend but don’t require students and adults wear masks indoors.
That started to change in recent weeks, though, as parents have clamored at school board meetings for districts to eliminate their mask requirements. State law requires school boards to vote at least once a month on their face mask policies.
Now, a majority of the state’s 115 school districts are making masks optional instead of required, as of Thursday.
Cooper said Thursday that people and businesses should still make their own decisions about whether they want to wear masks in public settings. Masks will still be required in health care settings, long-term care facilities and public transportation to comply with federal regulations.
Meanwhile, several municipal governments have upheld locally imposed mask mandates for their respective jurisdictions, including Raleigh, Wake County, Durham and Chapel Hill.
But area leaders, including Cooper, have talked about the pandemic shifting to becoming endemic. And Triangle leaders are starting to consider ending mask mandates as COVID-19 metrics improve, following the dramatic spike in cases in January.
“We have vaccines and boosters,” Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin told The News & Observer Thursday. “The rates are going way down. I think people are feeling a lot better about where we are.”
Wake County and Raleigh leaders are expected to meet Tuesday, or possibly sooner, to discuss the requirement, according to county and city officials.
School masks bill
The bill, a committee substitute for Senate Bill 173, is titled an “Act to Provide Parental Discretion in Requirements for Face Coverings on Public School Unit Property,” also known as “Free the Smiles.” It only mentions students, not adults.
In a vote before the governor’s press conference, the House of Representatives voted 76-42 in favor of the bill. As Cooper spoke, the Senate voted 28-17 to pass the bill.
For the past week, House Speaker Tim Moore, a Kings Mountain Republican, has said he would introduce the legislation, which also had Republican Senate leadership support.
“Let me be clear: It’s parents, not politicians who should be making these decisions for their children,” Moore said Wednesday. “As other states across the country lift mask mandates and restrictions, North Carolina’s children will not be left behind.”
In the House K-12 Education Committee meeting Thursday, Moore told his House colleagues that “enough is enough” and that it was “past time” to act on masks.
The News & Observer asked Senate leader Phil Berger on Tuesday if the legislation was a way to push Cooper to act.
“I think people in North Carolina are wanting their elected representatives to pursue matters they see as important,” Berger said. “And at this point in time, I can’t think of hardly any matter that parents of school-age children view as more important than getting their kids out of required masks. And so I think it’s incumbent upon us to move forward and address that issue.”
The bill, which includes both traditional and charter schools, will soon be on Cooper’s desk to sign or veto. In his press conference Thursday, the governor indicated he was apprehensive about stripping school boards of the authority to dictate masking rules, despite his encouragement for them to loosen mandates.
“From what I know about it,” Cooper said of the bill, “I have concerns that it’s unwise and irresponsible. ... I certainly have concerns.”
The bill also repeals part of the state law passed in 2021 that requires the monthly school board vote on masks.
Rep. Kristin Baker, a Cabarrus County Republican and a psychiatrist, said Thursday at the legislature that when discussing children’s safety, it is important to include data on things like suicides, homicides and substance abuse rates.
Moore called the bill a moderate approach.
“If you believe that your child should wear a mask, that’s fine,” he said. “The difference is it should not be up to government to do that, it should be up to the parents.”
About half of North Carolina’s school districts have dropped their mask mandates since state health officials recently decided to ease some COVID-19 protocols in schools, including quarantine requirements and contact tracing.
Of the state’s 115 school districts, 55 require face masks and 60 say they’re optional, as of Thursday, according to a spreadsheet maintained by the N.C. School Boards Association.
The latest school district in the Triangle area to drop mask requirements was Johnston County schools, and being discussed by Chatham County, while the largest school system — Wake County — isn’t expected to vote until March 1, The N&O previously reported.
COVID-19 data improves
As the omicron variant of COVID-19 has dropped precipitously and vaccinations are now freely available to children ages 5 and older, there’s been a push to drop mask rules.
At least 5,583 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Feb. 17, with 2,711 hospitalized, according to NCDHHS’ COVID-19 dashboard. That’s a significant drop from mid-January, when the state reported a record one-day increase with 44,833 new cases. In late January, hospitalizations reached a record high of 5,201 people.
About 10.6% of coronavirus tests were reported positive, which is double the 5% that health officials recommend.
Meanwhile, about 71% of adult North Carolinians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to DHHS. Roughly 75% have received at least one shot. Of the state’s total population, about 61% are fully vaccinated and about 65% have received at least one dose.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Cooper calls for NC schools, cities to lift mask mandates. Legislators pass mask bill.."
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