© 2024 WYSO
Our Community. Our Nation. Our World.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ohio's top doc warns schools not to drop COVID mask requirements too early

Masked students sit in a classroom at Worthington Kilbourne High School near Columbus in March 2021.
Dan Konik
/
Statehouse News Bureau
Masked students sit in a classroom at Worthington Kilbourne High School near Columbus in March 2021.

Now that all K-12 students can get vaccines, and the state’s COVID positive rate has gone down a bit from last month, some schools are changing their mask policies. But state health leaders are urging them not to do that yet.

In the last week nearly 40 school districts, including Lancaster, Perrysburg, Bucyrus, and Nordonia Hills, have dropped their requirement that students wear masks indoors. But Ohio Department of Health Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff says the COVID rate is still high.

“It’s still incredibly important for schools, parents, and schools, therefore, to think about the importance of masking because the vaccinated children will not be protected for some weeks to come,” Vanderhoff says.

Vanderhoff explains the pediatric version of the Pfizer vaccine requires two shots – one given three weeks after the first. And it takes another two weeks after that to be considered fully vaccinated.

Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment.