Maryland Schools One Step Closer To Being Able To Decide Face Mask Mandates

The Maryland State Board of Education is proposing an emergency masking regulation to eventually replace the one set to expire in late February.

The board voted Tuesday 12-1 to approve an emergency masking regulation that allows Maryland school superintendents and boards of education to decide whether to lift face covering mandates, under certain conditions. The proposal must still be approved by the state General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review.

The conditions are either an individual school has at least 80% of its students and staff fully vaccinated; a school's home county has 80% of residents fully vaccinated; a school's home county's transmission rate falls to moderate or low for at least 14 days.