'Off ramps' for MD school mask mandate could be proposed as soon as next week

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Maryland's Superintendent of schools could propose a new policy for statewide school masking in a matter of days.

RELATED | Baltimore County mom weighs in on statewide school mask mandate

A spokesperson for the Maryland State Department of Education says a proposal could be discussed at the State Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, December 7th.

Yesterday's motion directs the superintendent to bring a proposed emergency regulation for school masks to the Board for consideration that includes off-ramps. If a new emergency regulation is passed by the Board, it will need to go through the same AELR process as the last emergency regulation. The Board may take it up at the next regular scheduled Board meeting on December 7.

Maryland's Board of Education met Wednesday afternoon to discuss next steps for the existing 180-day emergency regulation, which requires all students, staff, and visitors to wear masks in public schools statewide.

The emergency regulation was passed by a committee of state lawmakers in September and is in place statewide until February 25, 2022.

Right now, local districts are unable to lift the school mask mandate in coordination with local COVID-19 metrics.

RELATED | State board of education requests local 'off ramps' for statewide school mask mandate

State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury told members of the Board on Wednesday that the widespread availability of vaccines for adults and children indicates its time for local school systems to have off ramps for lifting the mask mandate.

"We cant mask our children forever,” said Choudhury on Wednesday.

Choudhury said he is tracking how other states in the U.S. are handling mask mandates and what metrics are being used as off ramps.

"Fortunately we’re not the only ones thinking about this," he said. "There's different elements you could look at – you could look at vaccination rates, you could look at case rates, you could look at hospitalization rates.”

Pointing to Nevada as an example, Choudhury says the state is using community virus transmission rates to determine when masks must be worn in public settings.

The policy says any jurisdiction that drops below "substantial" transmission of the virus can choose to lift the local mask mandate.

"Its based on data -- a specific metric and it can fluctuate up and down based on where the community is with cases,” Coudhury told the Board of Education on Wednesday.

He also offered Massachusetts as an example, which is allowing individual schools to drop mandatory masking based on vaccination rates.

"When a school reaches an 80 percent threshold with their staff and students, they can choose to come off the face covering requirement if they choose," said Choudhury.

According to the policy from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, unvaccinated students and staff would be required to continue wearing masks at school.

While it is unknown what exactly Choudhury will propose for a new emergency order with off ramps, he gave some indication in his remarks this week.

"We believe that an off ramp, if it was developed, should tie -- should include our vaccination rates in our communities in some way,” he said on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Governor Larry Hogan told FOX45 News, in a statement Thursday afternoon:

We appreciate the Board recognizing the need for a course correction.