Kansas City Mayor Lucas to introduce ordinance extending mask order for K-12 schools
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas will introduce legislation Thursday to extend mandatory mask-wearing in schools, his office confirmed.
Lucas plans to bring up the measure for-same day passage, extending the order approved at the beginning of the year. It would run through Feb. 17 to align the city with Johnson County’s health order.
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners decided in January to continue requiring masks in school buildings up to sixth grade. The order will be reviewed in mid-February.
“(The order is) one that just looks to make sure that we’re protecting our schools, our schoolteachers, our staff, and our students — to make sure that we’re doing all that we can to ensure that there’s proper mitigation in Kansas City,” Lucas said previously.
It applies to school visitors, staff and students over age 5 at schools in city limits.
The proposed extension comes as area health officials say the omicron surge might have peaked, although a high volume of cases and related deaths continues.
“COVID cases here appear to be holding but it is no reason to let up on the gas as both cases and hospitalizations, though better, still remain higher than any other prior surge in the pandemic,” Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for The University of Kansas Health System said during a briefing Wednesday morning. “We are not out of the woods yet.”
The rolling weekly average of new COVID-19 cases across the Kansas City metropolitan area was around 1,840 as of Tuesday, according to data tracked by The Star.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 5:37 PM.
