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D20 taking ‘hard look’ at mask issue as more students go into quarantine

D20 mask mandate inbound
KRDO

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- As more and more school districts in El Paso County issue mask mandates on their campuses, Academy School District 20 says they are getting to a point where keeping masks optional may no longer be sustainable.

"We did not anticipate the quarantine numbers to be this high this early in the year," said Allison Cortez a spokesperson for D20. "We were so hopeful that we were going to be in better shape than we were last year, and that's just not the case. So we have to take a real hard look at this and decide what to do next."

So far, 264 students and staff members in D20 have tested positive for COVID-19, 1,424 students alone have been placed into quarantine. However, at the two D20 schools where masks are required, only 10 students have been placed into quarantine. 

Students at Air Academy High School and Douglass Valley Elementary School are mandated by the Air Force Academy to wear masks inside the schools. D20 says there are far lower quarantine numbers at the two schools than the rest of the district.

"The quarantine numbers are really small, which means our students are engaged with in-person learning," said Cortez, referencing the two schools. "They are not being sent home. It's a more consistent learning situation for them because the masks are keeping them in the classroom."

At Douglass Valley Elementary, three students have been placed into quarantine and there are three total positive COVID-19 cases.

For Air Academy High, where there are 1,370 students on campus, one student is currently in quarantine. Since the beginning of the school year, seven students total have been placed into quarantine.

Compare that to Liberty High School, also in D20, with a similar student population of 1,650. Currently, 110 students are in quarantine. In total, 185 students have been placed into quarantine since the beginning of school.

D20's quarantine policies directly follow the guidance from El Paso County Public Health and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. If students wear masks, then they are significantly less likely to be sent home.

Cortez says "it doesn't look like masks are preventing the number of COVID cases' district-wide. However, just looking at Air Academy High School (1,370 students) with masks and Liberty High School (1,650 students) where masks are optional, Air Academy has 13 positive COVID-19 cases to Liberty's 60."

"The isolation numbers aren't that different, but what is different is quarantine numbers," said Cortez. "When you have one person that is sick and the other person is masked that state guidance says as long as both parties are masked then you do not have to quarantine. So that's the big difference maker."

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