New Mask Rules For Miami-Dade, Broward Schools After Holiday Break – CBS Miami
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – On the first day of school after the winter break, there are new mask rules in Miami-Dade and Broward.
In Miami-Dade, it’s mandatory for all adults to wear masks on school property. Masks are optional for students but highly encouraged.
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In Broward, a mask mandate is in place for all school visitors and vendors. For students, teachers, and staff, they are optional but they are urged to wear them.
As part of the effort to prevent another shutdown, on Sunday, the Miami-Dade school district began distributing about 10,000 at-home COVID tests across six different locations to their employees.
“Look, we cannot revisit last year and last year as a result of a surge in cases of COVID-19 virus, we in fact had to shut down schools,” said Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
Broward County Public Schools also had a similar at-home COVID test distribution for their employees and both districts have reason to be concerned.
“There’s a crisis in America, there’s a crisis in our community, omicron has impacted America in a very severe and deep way,” added Carvalho.
That impact can be seen in the latest COVID statistics, which show from December 24-30 there were 298,455 new COVID cases. The number more than doubled from the previous week of December 17-23 when the new COVID case count was 125,201. And, on New Year’s Eve, the state added an additional 56,865 cases. Numbers that had many on high alert.
“We’re not going to emerge from this crisis unless everyone has an active role in it and that is not solely the responsibility of the school board it’s the responsibility of the entire community and together, we will emerge out of this stronger,” said Carvalho.
In addition to testing, both districts are encouraging students and staff to get vaccinated and practice social distancing.
MORE NEWS: COVID-19 Testing Sites In South Florida
For a list of COVID testing sites across South Florida, click here.
