How Many More Schools Will Require Masks? Yankton is Next
At yet another contentious school board meeting, the Yankton School Board voted Tuesday and passed a mask mandate. Board members voted 4-1 in favor to reinstate the use of masks by all students and staff that are in school buildings during the hours of 7:30 AM - 3:30 PM.
This comes one day after the Mitchell School Board voted in favor of required masking.
The cases of COVID-19 continue to rise and until those numbers return to a moderate level, masks will be required.
The Yankton Press & Dakotan writes Yankton County is currently being classified by the South Dakota Department of Health as having a “high” community spread or 100 cases or more per 100,000 people or a weekly PCR test positivity rate of 10% or greater.
Tuesday's meeting was addressed by doctors, nurses, parents, and community members speaking both for and against the idea of a mask mandate.
Coming off a year when masks had been required, the Yankton School District did not include masks in their 2021-22 back-to-school plan.
The DOH reports the number of cases of COVID-19 in the state is at a higher rate than at the same time last year.