Davidson County Schools to go mask-optional next week

The Davidson County School Board will lift its mask mandate next week. 

As with many districts, the mask issue has been contentious in Davidson County. But the board has maintained its mandate, most recently at its regular meeting on February 7th, where the vote was unanimous to continue the requirement.

Davidson school officials say they were guided in their most recent decision by the Strong Schools NC Public Health Toolkit from the state Department of Health and Human Services.

One reason for the change: new updates that lessen the burden of contact tracing. As a result, the board held a called meeting Monday, where they voted — again unanimously — to make masks optional starting next week.

Last week, the county positivity rate, a measure of the virus' transmission, was 22 percent. That's higher than the state average but down from almost 36 percent the previous week.