New Hanover County School Board makes masks optional
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) —The New Hanover County School Board voted to end the mask mandate, becoming the last district in the Cape Fear area to do so.
In a special meeting Wednesday afternoon, the New Hanover County School Board voted unanimously in favor of masks being optional for the district starting Friday.
The change in mask restrictions, making masks optional goes into effect on Friday. Masks remain mandatory for buses and head start classrooms. Board Chair Stephanie Kraybill originally motioned to have the new guidance begin on Monday. The same day as the updated Strong Schools NC Public Health Toolkit goes into effect.
Board member Pete Wildeboer amended the motion, asking the transition to begin Friday. The amended motion passed unanimously.
“I just think it would be very beneficial to go ahead and have one day of mask optional this week, and then we could,…one day is not going to make a whole bunch of difference between the 18th and the 21st, so I’d like to see that one day instead of jumping in with both feet on the 21st ,” said Pete Wildeboer, NHCS board member.
Board Members Stephanie Walker and Judy Justice both expressed concerns about students or staff being bullied based on their decision to wear a mask or not.
“It is my hope that people will understand that there are students and families and teachers will remain wearing masks, and they should not be bullied over it, and they should be respected for their decision to wear masks continuously,” said Stephanie Walker, NHCS board member.
New Hanover County’s assistant health director Carla Turner said a recent study in California details how effective wearing masks are in protecting people from getting COVID-19.
“Wearing a cloth mask would give me 56% lower odds of getting covid compared to people who didn’t wear masks. Where a surgical mask would give me 66% lower odds of people getting covid, but wearing N95 would me 83% lower odds of getting covid than someone who wasn’t wearing a mask,” said Carla Turner, New Hanover County’s assistant health director.
Turner also said regarding optional masking, reducing the spread of the virus depends on personal accountability, whether a mask is worn or not.
“Good hand washing never goes out of style, vaccination,–if a parent is on the fence as to whether or not to get their child vaccinated if they are 5 and older, I would encourage them to get their child vaccinated. That is the best protection against COVID-19, so that and then masks on top of that is even more,” said Turner.
New Hanover County Schools will also be operating by the updated Strong Schools NC Public Health Toolkit for COVID-19 guidance.
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