Tuscaloosa City Schools Extends Mask Mandates Until February 11th

Tuscaloosa City Schools is extending its mask mandate for all students and faculty for another two weeks as its positive case average among its student body is still above its acceptable threshold.

TCS adopted a policy back in October 2021 that set a 1% two-week threshold for positive student case rate to determine the use of masks in the schools.

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The school system implemented a temporary mask mandate on January 18 when the student positive rate was 2.14%. TCS Superintendent Mike Daria said that they would review the covid rate in its schools again on January 28.

Should the positive rate have fallen below 1%, students and faculty will revert to "masks optional." However, the average two-week positive rate as of Friday is 2.92%

"The good news is that we have seen a significant decline in student cases this week," an email to parents read Friday. "In fact, we are currently at .69% of active student positives."

This issue will be reviews again on February 11. If cases continue to trend down and the two-week average comes to 1% or below on that date, masks will become optional.

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