SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — The San Diego Unified schools will return to class Monday without required masks for the first time in nearly two and a half years since the pandemic.
The district says that instead of relying on the CDC's COVID community level alert, they'll use their own metrics to decided on mask requirements on a per school basis. Part of those metrics say that if a school gets three or more outbreaks within two weeks -- that school would go into a mandatory mask requirement for two weeks. However, there is still a possibility of a district wide mask mandate in the future.
District consulting physician Dr. Howard Taras, with the San Diego Unified School District, spoke to CBS 8 about the new rules and regulations.
"We are finding right now that COVID is not a prevalent as it was four weeks ago. We are hoping most children wear masks indoors but it is not going to be required. There are certain circumstances where it will be required if we're having multiple absences in a specific school site that are due to COVID-like symptoms or several outbreaks in the same school and we will require masks in that school to not have attendants problems like we did a year ago," Taras said.
WATCH: District consulting physician Dr. Howard Taras talks to CBS 8 about the schools new rules on COVID. (August, 29, 2022)
CBS 8 also joined Superintendent Dr. Lamont Jackson and district representatives as they welcomed the first freshmen students and staff for the 2022-23 school year at Logan Memorial Educational Campus (LMEC).
LMEC's prenatal-to-career public Montessori campus is the first of its kind in California. The Montessori approach values a hands-on experience for students that encourages creativity and fosters independence.
The campus offers a child development center known as El Nido, a preschool, an elementary school, a middle school and a high school. The high school, the first-ever built in Logan Heights, is opening its doors to freshmen this year, with higher grade levels opening in subsequent years.
LMEC's construction began in the fall of 2018 and is expected to be complete this winter.