CALDWELL, Idaho — Another Treasure Valley School District has extended its mask requirement.
On Thursday, the Caldwell School Board of Trustees voted to keep masks in place while approving some conditions that will trigger to revisit the requirement.
The board approved to revisit the mask mandate when one of these conditions are met:
- Crisis Standards of Care removed from both St. Luke's and Saint Alphonsus hospitals in the Treasure Valley
- COVID-19 vaccine available to students between the ages of 5-11
- Moderate community spread in Canyon County
On Aug. 31 the Board of Trustees approved an indoor mask mandate for all students and staff from Sept. 1 through Oct. 14.
RELATED: Caldwell School Board approves temporary mask requirement
During Thursday’s regular board meeting, System Medical Director Dr. Kenny Bramwell at St. Luke’s Health System told the board that the number of new patients admitted to the hospitals is decreasing.
"It’s possible that we are through the worst of it but we continue to do the best we can in all of our regional hospitals here,” he said.
Dr. Bramwell also recommended the board to keep the mask requirement.
“I believed that the kids wearing masks will help prevent the spread of COVID. I’ve seen data recently from the CDC that confirmed that schools that have masks in place are actually 3.5 times less likely to need to shut down than schools that don’t have a mask in place. That’s really the first time I’ve seen a quantifiable number that supports the use of masks,” he said.
