After Friday, Billings Public Schools will no longer require masks.
The district, citingfalling case counts and improved attendance, is dropping the face covering requirement that’s been in place since it was reimplemented in August.
“Even though the Yellowstone County metrics are still in red, several of them are in red,” Superintendent Greg Upham said Thursday, “the pieces of data we’ve been looking at – overall attendance rate, total number of staff that are out, and then the total number of cases that we have in SD2 – are down significantly.”
Upham says the district has reported 50 new cases so far this week – down from a “peak week” in mid-January when the district reported 443 cases among students and staff. At the time, 50 certified staff were out sick.
He says attendance has returned to roughly pre-COVID levels. On Wednesday the attendance rate was 92%, down slightly from the 93% the district was averaging before the pandemic.
“That brings us to pretty normal,” he said.
The district will still encourage masks in schools. N-95 masks will be available to students who request them. Upham says except for the mask mandate, all other health measures will stay in place, including social distancing and enhanced cleaning. The district will also continue to notify parents when a student has been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19.
“But," Upham said, "I have shared with our building administrators that I want to make sure that we get back to normal as much as we possibly can."
