MISSOULA — The rising number of local COVID-19 cases has prompted Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) to continue its face covering requirements.
MCPS sent a letter Friday stating that when classes resume on Monday, Jan. 3, students and staff will be required to continue to wear face masks.
Face coverings will also continue to be required while indoors at any MCPS facility.
The Board of Trustees approved several metrics at its November meeting that would be used to determine the necessity of face coverings.
"The county incident rate began to rise on December 24, and we are no longer meeting that particular goal set forth in our metrics,” a letter states. “As of December 31, the county incident rate was 44 which is classified as high community transmission."
The Missoula City-County Health Department reported an additional 113 and 428 active COVID-19 cases as of Friday.
Read the full letter below:
December 31, 2021
Dear Missoula County Public Schools Community,
We are writing today to let you know that we will continue to follow our required face coverings for all students and staff when we return to school on Monday, January 3, due to the rise in COVID cases in our county as measured by the incident rate on the MCCHD website [missoulainfo.com]. A reminder that the face coverings are required while indoors at any MCPS facility.
At their November meeting, the Board of Trustees approved several metrics that would be used to signal a change to our face covering guidelines. HERE is a link to those goals and the decision making process. The county incident rate began to rise on December 24 and we are no longer meeting that particular goal set forth in our metrics. As of December 31, the county incident rate was 44 which is classified as high community transmission.
We will continue to track all the metrics in our decision making model. You can follow our progress HERE [docs.google.com] and you can see the summary COVID data HERE. Once all the goals are met, we will notify you of the changes to the face covering requirements.
Thank you for your continued cooperation with our COVID protocols.
MCPS COVID Response Team
Rob Watson, Superintendent
Vinny Giammona, COVID Recovery Director
Brooke Krininger, Health Services Supervisor