Staff report
In a letter of parents over the weekend, the Diocese of Covington said all 37 of its schools would impose mask-wearing for students immediately.
As of Friday, three Diocesan elementary and two middle schools had added masks as a precaution, but increasing quarantines at all schools and concern about the long weekend forced the policy change.
Superintendent Kendra McGuire said in the letter, “At this time, by returning to a mask requirement we will hopefully mitigate further spread of the virus and keep quarantines to a minimum. This is an extra precaution we feel is necessary in order to maintain in-person instruction for the greatest number of students. Please note that case data and other information is reviewed daily and evaluated weekly.”
McGuire’s letter said based on last year, the Diocese was seeing increased cases after long weekends or holidays.
The Diocese updates its “COVID-19 Return to School Requirements” with information on masks and information to help parents deal with symptoms, exposure, tests and quarantines.
Gov. Andy Beshear mandated masks for schoolchildren at the start of the school year, a move later enacted by the state Department of Education, but a court order exempted the Diocese of Covington from the mandate after a suit by a group of parents.
All three NKY counties are now in the red zone for COVID cases.
Supt. McGuire’s letter also stated:
“While there are many sides to the arguments about masks, we are asking families to work with us as we make decisions that we feel are best for our school communities. We review a lot of information from the CDC, the Kentucky Department of Public Health, the local health department, the Governor’s office and the Kentucky Department of Education. When available, we review the opinions of other organizations to gather as much information as possible to make these decisions. However, our data is a large driver of our decisions as we have been tracking COVID-19 cases for thousands of students and staff over these last 14 months. . .
“I would also ask that you are kind to our principals, faculty, and staff. They have chosen this vocation because of their love of children and learning. Let’s make sure they can focus their efforts on the children and ensure they can dedicate their time to providing a great Catholic education to the students. As we enter the third school year impacted by the pandemic, we want our children to have a learning experience that is as close to normal as we can safely provide. Keeping our adult disagreements out of their lives, classrooms, and schools will help us reach that goal.”
As of Friday, the last time a report was issued, Kentucky had a positivity rate of 13.17% and a total of 592,489 cases and 7,845 deaths since the start of pandemic. Cases have been increasing dramatically over the past two weeks and more young people are contracting the disease. The state’s hospitals have been besieged with new cases.
