Philadelphia schools will again require students and staff to wear masks during the school day after the holidays, according to Fox 29 News.
The School District of Philadelphia, the eighth-largest school system in the county, is implementing a mask mandate for two weeks once classes resume from the holiday break, according to Fox 29 News. Superintendent Tony Watlington announced the mandate for all educators and students on Wednesday as a “proactive measure” because many will be “involved in quite a few social gatherings over the next few weeks.” (RELATED: New Jersey’s Largest School District Implements Mask Mandate For The Entire School Year)
The school district is also providing free at-home COVID-19 tests to families, WHYY News reported. The school implemented its last mask mandate in August when students returned to school and wore masks for two weeks.
The decision comes after the school district feared a “tripledemic” of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza (flu) and coronavirus, according to WHYY News.
View of the corridor at Fallsington Elementary School in Levittown, Pennsylvania on December 16, 2021. – As Joshua Waldorf was running for a third term on the Pennsbury school board in November, one particularly heated debate triggered a flood of vitriolic messages to his inbox — one of them urging him to shoot himself. (Photo by KYLIE COOPER/AFP via Getty Images)
The school district’s “General COVID-19 Protocol for the 2022-2023 School Year” states that the school can implement mask mandates “upon return from extended breaks and holidays when increased social gathering may heighten the risk of exposure to COVID-19.” Under the policy, students do not have to quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19 but can instead wear a mask for 10 days to remain in school.
The School District of Philadelphia did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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