MDH Adopts CDC Recommendations for COVID-19 Precautions in Schools This Fall

(KNSI) – The Minnesota Department of Health says it is recommending the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest COVID-19 guidelines for schools this fall. The guidance says all students, school staff and visitors in school buildings should wear masks inside, regardless of vaccination status.

The MDH released its best practice recommendations for schools Wednesday.

“In-person learning is critical, not only when it comes to academics, but also for our students’ social-emotional well-being and mental health,” said Minnesota Education Commissioner Dr. Heather Mueller. “As we head back to school this fall, we must implement measures to protect the health and safety of all of our students, staff and families.”

While the recommendations are not mandates for school districts, the MDH says they “are designed to support local school boards and school leaders as they make decisions for the upcoming school year and help Minnesota students get back in the classroom safely.”

“Each of our school boards and school leaders will be making the decision about what that looks like for their school communities,” Mueller said. “Not only will they be making a decision about masks or not masks, they will also be making the decisions about what that means for students or families that do not want to wear a mask if they have a masking policy.”

The CDC’s guidance for schools this fall includes:

Encouraging everyone age 12 and older to get vaccinated for COVID-19 before returning to school, sports or other academic activities
Wearing face masks in school buildings, regardless of vaccination status
Maintaining at least three feet of physical distance between students and classrooms when possible
Students, staff and teachers staying home when they have symptoms of COVID-19, though fully vaccinated people don’t have to quarantine if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19 as long as they don’t test positive and don’t have symptoms
Strengthening ventilation, contact tracing, handwashing, disinfection and cleaning efforts in schools
Unvaccinated students, staff, teachers and their families getting tested for COVID-19 regularly if they are attending in-person school, sports or other activities

“Vaccination, masking, and physical distancing remain our best public health prevention strategies for slowing the spread of COVID-19,” MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm said. “The Delta variant is proving to have an alarming ability to spread more easily, so it’s more important than ever that anyone eligible for vaccination get that protection as soon as possible, and follow the CDC’s guidance for continued masking, distancing and other prevention strategies to help avoid the widespread illnesses and community impacts we saw during the last school year.

“We are now five weeks out from the start of school,” Malcolm continued. “That’s about how long it takes to get full immunity from the Pfizer vaccine for those 12- to 17-year-olds. That’s why we’re kind of emphasizing: Do it now in order to have that fully protection by the time school starts.”

As of July 26th, more than 3.1 million Minnesotans have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose — nearly 67 percent of the state’s population that is eligible to get the shots. This includes 39 percent of Minnesotans ages 12 through 16 and 51 percent of Minnesotans ages 16 and 17.

State infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said Monday that approval for a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 11 and younger likely won’t happen until late 2021.

The recommendations for schools come as the state and country see an increase in new COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks.

“As of yesterday [Tuesday], an average of 25 people each day over the past week have been admitted to the hospital,” Malcolm said of COVID hospitalizations. “This is more than double the average number of people admitted each day as recently as the week leading up to July 4th. Over the past four weeks, we’re seeing a pretty consistent about 12 percent week-over-week increase in the hospitalization rate.”

Note: This article was updated to reflect further details about the recommendations given by Commissioner Mueller and Commissioner Malcolm in a Wednesday afternoon press call.

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