California’s San Diego County reinstates mask mandate

Several months after California removed its mask mandate for schools, it has been re-instated in San Diego County. This will largely affect students and teachers who are attending both summer schools and other extra-curricular activities.

The San Diego County said in a statement regarding the decision: “As a District, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been intentional in implementing strategies to keep our community safe and reduce absences due to illness – all in service of our students, staff, and community.”

Effective Monday, July 18, indoor masking will be required at all schools and District offices. “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,” the district said, according to Fox 5 San Diego.

The district added: “As a reminder, the District established criteria approved by our Board on May 24, 2022 that, if reached, would require a return to mandatory indoor masking. This week, one of those criteria was reached, with San Diego County entering the ‘high’ COVID-19 community level.”

The website also reminded people that preventative measures such as hand hygiene, enhanced ventilation, self-monitoring and both on-site and off-site testing remain in place.

San Diego Unified School District Board President Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne told KUSI News on Monday that they have the authority to implement a mask mandate in the event that cases do increase.

She went onto say that students who are not comfortable wearing a mask “they should just make it known that they don’t feel comfortable and at that point, just not return.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took to Twitter to hit out at the decision; “Forced masking is BACK in California. Leftist states cannot help themselves — they are philosophically addicted to mandates & restrictions. In Florida, we know what freedom looks like, & this isn’t it. We will never allow the Left to seize power & impose mandates on Floridians.”