Not sure how it is up in Utah's silly hat, but here in the Beehive State the K-12 mask mandate is a state mandate, not a school district one. So all the anger thats been directed at districts is misplaced. Granite School Districts board meeting last month had to adjourn early because a bunch of idiot children... errr... parents started screaming at the board about masks when the board can't really do anything about it. But hey, knowing how laws and regulations work (or basic parliamentary procedures) is so lame, amiright?
Sure, a district can choose how they want to enforce it; but with how sue happy society is, if I was the district I'd just follow the letter of the law. For example, there is currently litigation happening at a GSD high school right now regarding the outcome of the Student Body Officer elections. Yeah, really, its a thing. So just imagine the parental outrage from some quarters if GSD or Canyons said, "Yeah, F the state mask mandate! #freedakidz! YOLO!!!"
There's less than a month of school left and next year the mask mandate is gone. I think kids can handle that.
....and then.....
The state of Utah won't require masks in K-12 schools for the last week of the school year, Gov. Spencer Cox announced Thursday.
www.ksl.com
Utah mask mandate lifting for last week of school as state sees 418 new COVID-19 cases, 6 deaths Thursday
By Jacob Klopfenstein, KSL.com | UPDATED - May 13, 2021 at 12:24 p.m. | Posted - May 13, 2021 at 10:47 a.m.
83
SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah won't require masks in K-12 schools for the last week of the school year, Gov. Spencer Cox announced Thursday.
Individual school districts will have the option to continue mask mandates in their schools, but the state will lift its blanket mask requirement for all districts in the state, the governor said. Masks won't be required for whenever districts have their last weeks of school, he said.
The motivation for lifting the mandate in the last week of school is to give students a chance to see their teachers and friends at schools that last week, the governor said.
"Masks are still encouraged," Cox added.
The governor said there has been a request from several districts for the state to lift the school mask mandate. Families and kids can still make the decision to continue wearing masks, and Cox pleaded with people to respect the choices of individual parents and students.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox provided a COVID-19 pandemic update at a news conference Thursday morning. Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson and Utah Department of Health Deputy Director Dr. Michelle Hofmann also spoke at the event. Watch the replay below.
New COVID-19 cases
Utah's number of
COVID-19 cases increased by 418 on Thursday, with six more deaths and 14,578 vaccinations reported, according to the
Utah Department of Health.
There are an estimated 7,630 active cases of COVID-19 in Utah, according to the health department. The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 328, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period calculated with the "people over people" method is now 6.7%. The positive test rate per day for that time period calculated with the "test over test" method is now 3.6%.
There are 152 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 53 in intensive care, state data shows. About 73% of intensive care unit beds in Utah hospitals are now occupied, including 74% of ICU beds in the state's 16 referral hospitals. About 56% of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied in Utah, according to the health department.
A total of 2,355,333 vaccine doses have been administered in the state, up from
2,340,755 Wednesday. There are now 1,370,701 Utahns who have received at least a first dose of the vaccine, and 1,084,381 are fully vaccinated, according to the health department. A total of 2,851,143 vaccine doses have been shipped to the state so far.
State data now shows that 42.8% of Utah's total population has received at least a first dose of the vaccine, and 33.8% are fully vaccinated. Among Utahns age 16 and older, 57.6% have received at least one dose and 45.6% are fully vaccinated, according to the health department.
The new numbers indicate a 0.1% increase in positive cases since Wednesday. Of the 2,623,583 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah so far, 15.3% have tested positive for the disease. The number of total tests conducted in Utah since the pandemic began is now 4,781,911, up 14,677 since Wednesday.
The six deaths reported Thursday were:
- Two Iron County men who were between the ages of 65 and 84 and were hospitalized when they died
- A Salt Lake County woman who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A Salt Lake County man who was between the ages of 45 and 64 and was hospitalized when he died
- A Tooele County woman who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
- A Utah County man who was over the age of 85 and was a resident of a long-term care facility
Three of the deaths occurred before April 13 but were still being investigated by state medical examiners, the health department said.
Thursday's totals give Utah 401,669 total confirmed cases, with 16,467 total hospitalizations and 2,255 total deaths from the disease. An estimated 391,784 Utah COVID-19 cases are now considered recovered, according to the health department.
