Houston ISD lifts mandatory mask mandate

Houston ISD announced Feb. 28 that masks are now optional within schools, facilities and school buses effective March 1.

This comes after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance Feb. 25. Under this new guidance, the CDC said those who are healthy, such as children in schools, can take a break from wearing masks.

According to the CDC’s county check, Harris County’s community coronavirus spread level is medium, meaning those who are high risk, immunocompromised or sick should still be wearing masks.

HISD encourages those who need an extra layer of protection or who are exhibiting symptoms to wear a mask regardless of their vaccination status, according to the announcement.

The district's COVID-19 dashboard shows 169 active cases as of Feb. 28 among the district's 194,000 students and 23,000 staff members. A total of 143 of those cases are among students, and 26 are from staff. Active cases began to rapidly drop at the end of January and have been falling ever since.

During a Feb. 28 media briefing, Superintendent Millard House said the district will continue to monitor the COVID-19 trends on a daily basis and will be prepared to update protocols in the event of a community or localized outbreak.

“Our families, students and staff have shown incredible patience, resiliency and grace the past two years as we navigated this pandemic,” House said.

House said HISD continues to recommend free campus testing for staff and students and will still hold COVID-19 vaccination clinics on HISD campuses. HISD will also continue to clean campuses with hospital-grade products, he said.

As Community Impact Newspaper previously reported, Mayor Sylvester Turner also recently announced the suspension of a policy that required employees and visitors to wear masks within municipal buildings.