BERRIEN COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT ISSUES MASK MANDATE FOR ALL PRIVATE/PUBLIC SCHOOLS

By DEBRA HAIGHT

ST. JOSEPH – 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s still affecting life in Southwest Michigan. While many restrictions on business and activities have been lifted, a new mask mandate order took effect this week for area schools.

The Berrien County Health Department issued the mandate for area schools on Sept. 1 to go into effect Sept. 6. It came during a week that saw students returning to most area private and public schools to start the 2021-22 school year. “Return to Learn” plans adopted by individual school districts in several instances had recommended but not mandated masks.

The mandate came a week after Berrien County Commissioners approved by unanimous consent a resolution giving support to the Berrien County Health Department in their pandemic mitigation efforts. COVID-19 cases and positive tests have increased in recent weeks throughout the county.

The resolution noted that it is the county’s mission to promote “public safety, health, well-being and prosperity in order to improve the quality of life for present and future generations.” It added that the health department has worked “to prevent disease, protect health and promote an optimal quality of life for all residents.”

The resolution concluded by noting that the health department has urged all county residents 12 and up to be vaccinated, stay home when sick and follow good hand hygiene and overall sanitation measures such as wearing masks when appropriate. The county board resolution did not mention mask mandates.

The new mask mandate also comes at a time when there’s a growing public outcry against government-imposed pandemic restrictions such as calls for not only mask but vaccine mandates. People have voiced concerns at area school board meetings as well as Berrien County Board of Commissioners and Berrien County Board of Health meetings.

The subject of health and medical freedoms is also expected to be addressed at this weekend’s South County Republican Club meeting at Lehman’s Farmhouse at 204 N. Red Bud Trail in downtown Buchanan. The gathering is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 12 from 2-4 p.m.

Aimee Williams Foster of Berrien County Parents for School Freedoms is among those scheduled to speak. The meeting will also feature remarks on election integrity from Berrien County Clerk Sharon Tyler and Joanne Bakale of the Election Integrity Force. Other speakers include gubernatorial and congressional candidates Mike Brown and Ezra Scott.

The health department’s mask mandate for schools will continue until COVID-19 transmission rates decline and are characterized as low or moderate for 21 consecutive days. The order further stated there must be no increase observed in the hospitalizations and deaths during that same period before the order is lifted.

The order states all individuals in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 indoor education settings including colleges where high school students take classes to wear masks regardless of vaccination status to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.  Settings affected by the order also include preschools and childcare facilities as well as tutoring centers.

The order is authorized under the Michigan Public Health Code and violations are subject to citations and penalties as outlined in the law. Failure to comply is a legal mandate punishable by up to six months in jail and a $200 fine.

The order mandating masks does not apply to people eating and drinking, people participating in outdoor activities, children under age four, people with confirmed medical reasons to not wear masks and teachers working with students who are hard of hearing or who have developmental conditions.

The health department press release last week noted that studies of COVID-19 incidence in school districts last year showed that proper masking was the most effective mitigation strategy to prevent secondary transmission in schools. Health department officials called masking part of a multi-layered approach to fight the pandemic.

Berrien County Health Department Communications Manager Gillian Conrad said department officials looked at a variety of factors before issuing the mask order, not just the cumulative case rate or the percentage of positive tests.

“We look at more factors, such as hospitalizations, hospital staffing and bed capacity as well as vaccination rates,” she said. “We also are looking at what populations are at risk. With the Delta variant, it’s younger and younger people who are getting sick and are in the hospital.”

With vaccinations, Conrad said that percentages have plateaued with 55 to 56 percent of the eligible population in the county vaccinated. She did say that the vaccination rates among youth ages 12 to 19 is growing.

She also answered some of the questions raised by parents at recent area meetings, including whether COVID PCR tests are valid in light of a recent FDA recall. She said that the PCR tests used to detect COVID are accurate and that the tests recalled by the FDA are not the ones the health department uses.

As for concerns that positivity rates can be skewed by the health department ramping up testing, she said testing has increased due to more people reporting illness. “We’re not artificially inflating testing,” she said. “Testing has increased as the number of symptomatic, sick people has increased.”

She said that while federal HIPAA privacy laws actually don’t apply in situations involving infectious diseases, the health department is keeping the information they’re gathering private. “We’re not showing information on who tests positive, there still are a lot of protections,” she said.

On enforcement, she said her department is emphasizing education. “We’re operating from a place of partnership and education,” she said. “We’re explaining the why. Schools have been phenomenal partners and we want to work with them and not against them. There are provisions for enforcement, but we want to be partners.”

She said that most of the major school districts have had one or two positive cases. “We know we will continue to have positive cases, but the masks will help,” she said. “With people wearing masks, we’re saying three feet and not six feet social distancing so that less people will have to be quarantined.”

“Primarily our goal is that we want to keep students in class learning and reduce the number of quarantines,” she said. “Masks allow us to protect each other.”

People can find the department’s mask order and other information about COVID-19 at the department’s website at http://www.bchdmi.org/1695/Public-Health-Orders.