Two more Iola schools are now requiring students and staff to wear face masks because of a high number of COVID-19 infections.
On Wednesday, Iola High School and Lincoln Elementary School reached the 4% threshold that would trigger an automatic mask mandate, starting today and running for at least two weeks until infections reach 2% or fewer.
Iola Middle School currently is under a mask mandate.
A report from the district shows it had a total of 66 positive COVID cases as of Tuesday, with 39 at the middle school, 12 at the high school and eight at Lincoln. Jefferson had four cases and McKinley had three.
The high school’s 4% number is 16, which indicates more cases were identified after Tuesday’s report.
HIGH numbers of COVID infections are closing schools across Kansas, including some of the state’s largest districts in Olathe and Kansas City.
The Crest district in Colony and Kincaid canceled classes Wednesday and today because of COVID cases.
In the Humboldt district, cases have not reached a 4% threshold that would trigger a special board meeting to discuss next steps. Cases at Humboldt Elementary School were 1.3% last week, and cases at the elementary and high schools were 2.6%.
At Marmaton Valley, grades 6-12 have a mask mandate for at least another week because of a high rate of COVID cases in those grade levels.
Several area school sports have been canceled or rescheduled because of COVID.
