CT Mask Mandate ends for some CT, but COVID-19 fears linger

NY Magazine

by: Nickolas Nasse, Colby Quinn, TJ Mayfield
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Just a few months short of the two-year mark of the CT mask mandate, CT schools are finally able to make a decision on whether to wear a mask or not. 
Wethersfield public schools announced that beginning  February 28th, 2022 that they will be moving to a “Mask recommended setting” per superintendent Michael Emmet. 

This decision brought a split between two major sides that split the school, if not the nation.  

With cases staying at steadily under 3%, students and teachers of most Connecticut high schools are moving to make masks optional, removing the mandatory status for masks inside the school environment. 

Dozens of Connecticut schools such as Wethersfield, Enfield, Newington, and Glastonbury would be going mask optional, but other districts such as Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and New Haven look to continue to make masks mandatory in schools even after the ability to make it optional. 

With masks worn for almost 2 years within Wethersfield schools, both students and teachers both are relieved that masks are finally optional again. “Personally, if I don’t have to wear one [mask], then I’m not going to wear one,” said WHS senior Sean Dunn, who had chosen to not wear his mask in school. 

“Masks have been keeping us safe for almost two years,” WHS teacher Mrs. Mucinskas explains how masks are key to keeping people safe in schools but had decided to fluctuate her decision to wear a mask based on the positivity rate. 

Although, for other teachers and students, they may choose to stay masked because of preexisting conditions, family situations at home, or general comfort level. It’s simply important to respect others’ decisions and move on. 
Students and teachers of WHS were asked for their thoughts on masks and the overall whole COVID situation. Mixed results were found all over the school in the perspectives of both teachers and students still being split on masks, as well as for the parents of students.

 “I really wear it [a mask] because my mom wanted me to wear one,” said Junior Annabella Cartiera in response to why she wears her mask in school. 

Statistically though, since masks were made optional for schools around Connecticut, positivity rates have not spiked or fluctuated upwards in the mere two weeks CT schools have been mask optional, keeping positivity rates between 2-3%. 

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