San Diego Unified will bring back mask mandate Monday amid high county COVID-19 spread
The mask mandate will last at least two weeks and will affect students attending summer school programs
San Diego’s increasingly severe level of COVID-19 transmission prompted San Diego Unified to bring back an indoor mask mandate for students and staff starting Monday.
In May, San Diego Unified set multiple criteria that, if met, would trigger a return to a mask mandate. One of those criteria was if San Diego County entered a “high” level of COVID activity, as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Thursday, an increasing number of COVID-related hospitalizations had pushed the county past that threshold. San Diego County is currently at 11.5 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents.
When a county has a high community COVID level, the CDC recommends that people wear well-fitting masks while in public indoors, including at schools.
Starting Monday, everyone at San Diego Unified schools and district offices will have to wear a mask while indoors, the district announced in an email to families on Friday evening.
The mask mandate will last at least two weeks and will affect students attending summer school programs, according to the district.
“We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 community level according to the CDC and County data and we will communicate if there are any changes in two weeks,” district officials wrote.
Masks have been optional in San Diego Unified since April 4. State officials have not yet announced any statewide mask mandate.
