Lehigh Valley school districts are considering optional masking for this fall. But health officials say wait to see what the Delta variant does.
“We still have almost two months until school so we certainly don’t need to make the call now,” Olanoff said. “You don’t have to use a lot of lead time to prepare for masks — I mean, we all already own masks.”
Lynn Olanoff isn’t yet sure if she will make her son Connor McEvoy wear a mask during the upcoming school year should Bethlehem Area School District choose to make mask-wearing optional.
Come fall, Connor will start second grade at Gov. Wolf Elementary. Olanoff is concerned about Connor’s safety and thinks masking is a good idea unless case levels are low, she said. But there are some downsides to wearing masks in the classroom, she said, such as for children who are learning phonics and pronunciation who are unable to see the teacher’s mouth move.
But before she and other parents choose what to do, Bethlehem has to decide whether it will be safe for students like Connor to attend classes in person without masks. Olanoff said district leaders have been responsible during the pandemic and she trusts they will make the right decision for students.
“We still have almost two months until school so we certainly don’t need to make the call now,” Olanoff said. “You don’t have to use a lot of lead time to prepare for masks — I mean, we all already own masks.”
As vaccination numbers climb and COVID-19 cases decrease, school districts have to figure out what school will look like this fall, including whether masking will be required as it was for 2020-21. While children 12 years old and up can be vaccinated, elementary school students still cannot.
Bethlehem Superintendent Joseph Roy said district officials want to wait until closer to the start of the school year to make a decision.
“We have plenty of time to see how things play out this summer and to wait for updated guidance from the Bethlehem Health Bureau and St. Luke’s,” Roy said.
Some districts, such as East Penn and Northampton Area, have approved changes to their health and safety plans that make mask-wearing optional for the coming school year.
But Chrysan Cronin, director of public health and professor at Muhlenberg College, said a wait-and-see approach is the one school districts should take. She said the rapid spread of the delta variant across the country in recent weeks is concerning.
“Why do they have to make that decision today for something that’s not even needed for two more months? Why can’t they wait until we actually know where we’re at?” Cronin said.
Some of the districts’ decisions follow guidance from the state. On June 28, Pennsylvania lifted its masking order even though the state still hasn’t reached 70% of adults fully vaccinated.
New Jersey announced last week that masking is optional for schools, unless individual schools and districts decide otherwise or high spread of COVID-19 makes masking necessary. Pennsylvania has not issued any new masking guidance for the schools but schools, businesses and municipalities still have the discretion to enforce masking as seen fit.
There are vocal groups pushing school districts to give parents the choice on masking their children. Some of these parents have mobilized events in support of their cause, such as the Rally For Choice-My Child My Choice on July 11 at the First Presbyterian Church of Allentown.
Cronin said making mask-wearing in schools optional may turn out to be the right decision but there isn’t enough information available now about what community spread or vaccination rates may be. It may be hard to persuade some people to wear masks if schools start without required masking but high community spread of COVID-19 makes masking a necessity, she added.
“I understand that these districts are simply adhering to our state’s lack of mandates on this. We don’t yet have the science on the delta variant that would support the idea that we shouldn’t keep our precautions in place such as mask-wearing and social distancing,” Cronin said. “It’s a very small thing to do to wear a mask to prevent a potential spread of a much more severe variant.”
The delta strain of the coronavirus is a highly infectious variant that was first identified in India late last year but has now been found in 85 countries, including the United States, where it is estimated to account for about 26% of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Delta is believed to be the most infectious strain, even more so than the alpha variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom and is more infectious than the original dominant strain.
Evidence shows that the existing vaccines are effective at protecting against infection or illness from the delta variant, but there are numerous confirmed cases of it infecting people who are only partially vaccinated in the U.K. where it now accounts for more than 90% of all infections.
Cronin said delta represents a high risk to unvaccinated people, including children too young to get the vaccine.
Though 12- to 15-year-olds have been able to get the Pfizer vaccine for more than a month now, vaccination rates among adolescents and teens are low across Pennsylvania and in the Lehigh Valley.
For the state, only 13% of children 12-14 years old are fully vaccinated and about 31% of 15- to 19-year-olds have their shots. Rates in the Lehigh Valley were somewhat better. For children 12-14, about 16% in Lehigh County are fully vaccinated and in Northampton County, about 15%. In Lehigh County the percentage of 15- to 19-year-olds fully vaccinated is 37% and in Northampton, 32%.
Dr. Jeffrey Jahre, infectious disease expert for St. Luke’s University Health Network, said there is little doubt the delta variant has already reached the Lehigh Valley.
Right now delta only accounts for 1% of cases in Pennsylvania, according to the CDC, but Jahre said it is likely to become the dominant strain here, just like it has in the United Kingdom and India. In other states, the delta variant is already gaining a foothold. The highly infectious strain accounts for 10% of cases in New Jersey, 12% in Colorado and nearly 30% of cases in Missouri, according to the CDC.
Some parts of the country have even rethought masking due to the new strain. Last month, Los Angeles started to urge residents, including those who are fully vaccinated, to wear masks because of the high spread of delta.
