WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The mask mandate at Westerville City Schools is coming to an end.
Beginning February 22, students and staff will be “strongly advised and encouraged” to wear masks, but no longer required, Superintendent John Kellogg announced during a board meeting Monday night.
In part, Kellogg cited improving case rates and rising vaccination rates as reason for the decision to lift the mandate.
Currently, nearly 70% of Franklin County residents are fully vaccinated, while that number is more than 70% in Delaware County.
The district implemented a K-12 mask mandate heading into the school year in response to a post-July surge of the delta variant.
Kellogg said student and staff attendance have both improved since then and COVID data is "heading in the right direction."
The district will continue to maintain positive case data on the website and send family notifications when necessary, Kellogg said. Additionally, COVID-19 data will continue to be reviewed and contact tracing will still be used to identify clusters.
According to Kellogg, the district could put targeted mask mandates on specific schools or grade levels to help keep cases down in the future.
Masks are still required for students while riding the bus under the Federal Transportation Mandate. That mandate ends March 18.
"We want to measure our individual rights against the responsibility to the people around us," Kellogg said.
Attendance restrictions on all indoor events were also lifted during the meeting. It was also said that volunteers will be allowed back inside schools soon.
Also on Monday, district officials announced an end to the mask mandate at Hilliard schools. That mandate is set to end Wednesday.