More than half of North Carolina’s school districts have dropped classroom mask mandates. The state’s two biggest school districts, Wake County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, voted Tuesday to drop all mask mandates on March 7.

School boards in North Carolina have been reviewing their mask rules since the governor last week called for an end to mask mandates. Guilford and Nash counties voted to make masks optional Monday. The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools board voted Tuesday to make masks optional starting Feb. 28.

Wake County will phase out mask requirements, starting immediately with athletics. For extracurricular activities, the mask mandate ends at 5 p.m. Feb. 25. And on March 7, masks become optional in all Wake County school buildings.

What You Need To Know

  • More than half of North Carolina's 117 school districts have dropped mask mandates

  • Gov. Roy Cooper last week called on school boards and local governments to end mask mandates by March 7

  • Daily COVID-19 case counts continue to fall from the winter spike driven by the omicron variant

  • The Wake County Board of Education voted to make masks optional beginning March 7

"These changes will be sudden for some, long overdue for others," Wake County Board of Education member Chris Heagarty said Tuesday. The board is still recommending everyone wear masks in school buildings, but it's not required.

Masks have become a standard part of the school day for many children around North Carolina. Waves of COVID-19 swept over the state in the fall from the delta variant and with omicron over the winter.

But case numbers are again falling. Gov. Roy Cooper last week said it was time for local governments and school boards to drop mask mandates. Updated school guidelines say districts should stop requiring masks in the classroom on March 7.

“Learning to live with this virus is a reality we will continue facing. Some people, including me, will feel more comfortable wearing a mask in crowds,” the governor said. “Parents may still want their children wearing a mask at school.”

Federal rules mean masks are still required when students are riding on school buses.

“As we have since the beginning of this pandemic, we have followed the recommendations of public health leaders, who track our statewide progress in controlling the virus,” Guilford County school board Chair Deena Hayes said in a statement Monday.

“We thank Governor Cooper for his leadership in this matter, and we know that parents are grateful as well,” she said.

 

 

Some of the remaining cities and counties with mask mandates have been moving to drop those.

Wake County, Raleigh and other nearby cities plan to drop their indoor mask mandates Friday at 5 p.m.

Mecklenburg County will end its indoor mask rule on Saturday.

"Current trends point to a shift in COVID-19 conditions and indicate the need for a revised response plan that encompasses prevention, surveillance and equitable distribution of resources," said Dr. Raynard Washington, Mecklenburg County Public Health director.

State and local public health officials say they want to focus on getting more people vaccinated.

"Getting a booster dose if you are eligible and continuing to wear a mask when appropriate, especially for people at high risk for serious illness, is the best thing you can do to avoid hospitalization and death from COVID-19," Washington said in a statement.

“At this stage of the pandemic, it is right for them to make these choices in most situations. The most important thing people need to know is, vaccines provide the strongest protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death from this virus,” the governor said last week. “It is the unvaccinated who are experiencing the vast majority of COVID deaths.”