Now that all K-12 students can get vaccines, and the state’s COVID positive rate has gone down a bit from last month, some schools are changing their mask policies. But state health leaders are urging them not to do that yet.
In the past week nearly 40 school districts, including Lancaster, Perrysburg, Bucyrus, and Nordonia Hills, have dropped their requirements that students wear masks indoors. But Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, health director at the Ohio Department of Health, says the COVID rate is still high.
“It’s still incredibly important for schools, parents, and schools, therefore, to think about the importance of masking because the vaccinated children will not be protected for some weeks to come,” he said.
Vanderhoff explains the pediatric version of the Pfizer vaccine requires two shots. The second shot is given three weeks after the first. And it takes another two weeks after that to be considered fully vaccinated.
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