On April 10th, Utah ended its policy of mask enforcement in public areas with the explicit exception of public schools. This decision to not include schools may be confusing for some, but the decision to retain mask policies at schools ultimately came at the behest of public health officials who recommended the exemption to the state legislator. 

According to the governor’s website, health officials encouraged mask requirements to remain in schools for four reasons:

A lack of vaccine authorization for children under the age of 16 

Some teachers and faculty who are not yet vaccinated

Unknown Long term impacts on students from contracting COVID-19

Asymptomatic transmission between households.

While some of these factors may not apply by the end of the school year, for now there appear to be no plans to lift the restrictions before the end of the school year. So no, the lifting of the mask mandate will likely not be changing anything about this school year. Mask enforcement will continue to be school policy for the foreseeable future. The CDC, despite minor reservations at the start of the pandemic, continues to advocate for the mass adoption of masks. On their website they say, “You should wear a mask, even if you do not feel sick. Wearing a mask helps protect those around you, in case you are infected but not showing symptoms.”

This late in the year, these recommendations may be falling on deaf ears. Throughout the school year some students and teachers have noticed a decrease in dedication of many students to wear masks properly. With vaccines and herd immunity, one may get the impression that COVID is not as serious of a problem, but in actuality as of today only 20% of the state has received a full dosage of the COVID vaccine, and herd immunity is likely to decline as people lose natural immunity from infections from a few months ago. Vaccinations have surely made the future outlook for the pandemic more optimistic, but based on scientific consensus, mask mandates are still important in preventing any future outbreaks in our community.

Despite these underwhelming signs of COVID’s decline, for many the pandemic might as well be over. Senior Hunter Bingham speculates that a decline in mask usage by his peers is a result of restrictions becoming routine, “I think overall most of my peers just see it as more of a rule… I don’t think any of the restrictions are hard to adhere by personally, but obviously some people struggle with masks; you’ll see people in the halls not wearing them because they’re just sick of them.” After a year living in a pandemic, Hunter and others have begun speculating that some might be seeing the danger of COVID-19 as mundane.

Principal Foster understands that for most of the student body, following restrictions isn’t easy. “I think every student has a reason for not wanting to wear masks. Whether that’s because they’re uncomfortable, or they don’t necessarily agree with it, or they’re not as much support, or they have anxiety, everyone has a reason… I can’t draw lines, I have policies I have to follow. As an administrator I can’t pick and choose.” She believes that overall Ridgeline has done very well at following COVID policies, but agrees that there’s been a decline in motivation as the year has gone on.

Ridgeline’s faculty has found it hard to communicate to many students that enforcing mask mandates isn’t anything personal, they’re simply doing it to enforce a district health policy which was designed to keep the student body safe. The pandemic likely won’t be over soon, but according to the scientific consensus, continued usage of masks (alongside vaccinations) seem to be the best way to help it end sooner.