ISBE distributed updated public health guidance to all Illinois schools earlier this month, along with “detailed guidance for evaluating symptomatic students and close contacts for exclusion, and guidance regarding school testing programs,” Matthews said. “While we can’t predict what the school year will bring, we remain focused on supporting students’ recovery, both academically and with their mental health,” ISBE spokeswoman Jackie Matthews said in a statement. The new language used by the state’s health department includes terms like “strongly encourage,” and “recommends,” rather than the previous “required,” which was abandoned when the state lifted its mask mandate in the spring.Ī spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education said the “goal continues to be to have as many students as possible learning in schools, while protecting health and safety. “Schools should also consider implementing screening testing for high-risk activities such as indoor sports and extracurricular activities, when students are returning from breaks, and for those serving students who are at high risk for getting very sick with COVID-19,” IDPH officials said. “In all Community Levels, staff and students with COVID-19-like symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask around others,” according to IDPH. An additional 31 counties are rated at medium community level. According to the CDC, 66 counties in Illinois are rated at high community level for COVID-19. But according to the latest guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health, when communities are at a high risk level, “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends universal indoor masking as masks are critical to keeping classrooms open for in-person learning.”Īs of Friday, all six counties covering the Chicago area reported high community levels, an assessment based on a combination of hospitalization rates and the number of new COVID-19 cases in those counties. Opinions about the pros and cons of school mask requirements vary dramatically among parents.
“Mask wearing interferes with social development, including a child’s ability to identify emotions and connect with peers and educators,” Beer said. “Mask mandates in school do more harm than good,” said Beer, whose children, 10 and 12, attend Wilmette School District 39. “I accept the school is doing what the majority wants them to do, but I would ask them, ‘Don’t forget about people with extreme circumstances.’”Ĭhris Beer, a Wilmette mother of two who is among the contingent of Illinois parents strongly opposed to the governor’s school mask mandate, said she hopes “the 2022-2023 school year gives families the choice to do what feels right for their children.” “It will not be any different than it was at the end of the last school year, when masks became optional, and Bronwyn will be facing the same situation,” Helm said. “My daughter is really anxious about going back to school because she is worried she’s going to be the only kid wearing a mask,” Helm said. Helm said Bronwyn’s father is 78 and suffers from compromised heart function due to complications from cancer surgery, putting him in several high-risk categories for potentially severe illness from COVID-19. Given the anticipated majority of students who will arrive in classrooms unmasked this fall, parent Jacqueline Helm is worried her daughter Bronwyn, 16, will have a tough time being one of the few teens still masking at Wheaton Warrenville South High School.
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