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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Board members have voted to end the Charleston County School District mask mandate early following a Monday afternoon vote.
The mandate will now end this Wednesday. According to the district, it will end before school starts on Wednesday and masks will be optional moving forward.
All but one board member voted in favor of ending the mask mandate early; Erica Cokley was the only Nay.
It was originally supposed to end on Friday. The mandate had been in effect for almost two months.
On Monday, the superintendent presented the latest case data at a special-called meeting, revealing 38 positive cases of COVID-19 last week. That’s less than 50 cases in a district with around 50,000 students and staff.
The decision to do away with masks relies heavily on MUSC infection data. That data shows the threat in Charleston County is now considered overall Low. Just two weeks ago, the positivity rate was 5.3 percent, today it’s 3.8 percent.
However, the district does have guidelines for when masks could go back into place and if those numbers go back up, the superintendent can bring masks back.
Within the current policy, students who refuse to wear a face mask are sent home to learn virtually.
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