Arizona schools with no mask mandate are 3½ times more likely to have a COVID-19 outbreak than those with one, according to a new CDC report co-authored by Pima County health officials.
“New data from Arizona schools shows what public health experts have been telling our governor for months: universal masking keeps students learning in person,” said schools chief Kathy Hoffman in a statement. “It is irresponsible of the state government to stand in the way of local leaders making decisions that protect the health and safety of their students and staff.
“Until we have suppressed community spread by vaccinating more individuals, including children under 12, universal masking will continue to be a critical tool in limiting the spread of the virus in our schools,” Hoffman said.
The ban on mask mandates in Arizona schools is set to go into effect Wednesday, Sept. 29. School advocacy groups and stakeholders have challenged the law in court, and the judge in the case has said she will make a ruling before that date.
Pima County is currently in a state of high transmission for the COVID-19 virus. There have been nearly 2,300 cases in Tucson schools, 76 outbreaks, 43 classroom closures and more than 8,000 students told to quarantine in the last two months. The vast majority of the COVID-19 cases in schools are in children, many of which are younger than 12 and so not eligible for a vaccine.
The new CDC report specifically looked at data from school districts in Pima and Maricopa counties and compared districts that have had a mask mandate from the beginning of the school year to districts that have had none this school year.
As well, the Pima County Health Department is finding that schools with a mask mandate have a lower infection rate for COVID-19.
The county health department did a comparison between TUSD, which has had a mask mandate from the beginning of the school year, and another local school district that has none and found the infection rate was more than twice as high in the district without a mandate, said Dr. Theresa Cullen, Pima County health director.
The infection rate was 1% in TUSD and 2.3% in the district that doesn’t enforce mask use. The county did not name the other district in the comparison.
“Our hope is that this is information that will encourage, cajole, inform people’s decision about the role of masking,” Cullen said. “Masking is critical in schools. It is how we have now been able to show a significant impact on the amount of outbreaks that occurred in the classroom.”
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the newly released study. But a few weeks ago when health officials provided data showing that schools with a mask mandate have lower infection rates than those without, Gov. Doug Ducey said he had no plan to revisit the ban.
Health departments at all levels of government recommend universal masking as a major component of COVID-19 mitigation in schools, including the state health department.
“Consistent with CDC guidance and state law, ADHS continues to recommend that everyone wear masks and follow other mitigation strategies indoors around those they don’t live with in areas where COVID-19 spread is high or substantial,” said Arizona Department of Health Services spokesman Steve Elliott.
TUSD to defy law, keep masks
While about half the school districts in Pima County have a mask mandate, most have said they will rescind the mandate when the state law forbidding a mandate goes into effect next week.
The Tucson Unified School District broke from that Thursday night and voted to continue requiring masks on campuses, regardless of whether a ban on them goes into effect.
Tucson’s largest school district, serving upward of 42,000 students, is also filing a complaint and asking for federal assistance from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice, saying the actions taken by the governor and the Legislature prohibit schools’ ability to implement COVID-19 mitigation measures shown to protect the school community, in particular students and staff with disabilities.
“The district further seeks to ensure that Arizona is not substantially increasing the risk that children with disabilities will contract the virus and in turn substantially increase their risk of severe illness or death,” said Board President Adelita Grijalva, reading the motion that the board members who were present unanimously approved at the Sept. 23, meeting.
“We’re doing all that we can to ensure the safety of our school communities so that they stay open and accessible to students and staff members,” she said.
