AURORA | Once students return from spring break next Monday Aurora Public Schools will not require them to wear masks on school buses or at bus stops.
The change follows a late February decision from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifting its earlier requirement that masks be worn on school buses nationwide.
APS’ mask mandate for schools was lifted on Feb. 7 following the Tri-County Health Department’s decision to let its indoor mask mandate expire. Since then, the district said cases have continued to fall.
“Over the past several weeks, we have seen significant and continued declines in positivity rates,” Superintendent Rico Munn said in a message to district families. “In addition, we have not seen a single outbreak in any of our schools since lifting our mask mandate.”
Case rates have fallen significantly over the past month according to Tri-County’s online data dashboard. Currently Arapahoe County has a 14-day incidence rate of 57.08 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and Adams County has a rate of 47.11 — a number that was in the hundreds for both counties earlier this year.
The district will continue to require students and staff to isolate for five days after testing positive or developing symptoms for COVID-19, and to wear their masks for five days after returning to school. Quarantines of entire classes will still only be required if there is an outbreak at a school, which is defined as five or more connected cases.
“We are encouraged by these recent improvements and the subsequent loosening of restrictions,” Munn said. We ask for your continued flexibility and understanding. Please know that we will continue to adjust our health and safety protocols if circumstances change.”
Never forget what the democrats have done to our children.