COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Education announced Monday that masks are no longer required on state-owned buses.
Richland One parent Feggin Durant says his 14-year-old daughter rides the school bus home every day, and the lifting of the mask requirement worries him.
“It’s a concern," said Durant. “Looking at the numbers every day, there's still someone dying, and we don’t know a lot about this disease. It's two years in, there’s a lot of things we don’t know… there’s still the uncertainty of, what are we dealing with.”
He says the 10 minutes his daughter spends on the bus every afternoon are 10 minutes she could be exposed to COVID.
“With the masks being off, we don’t know who’s vaccinated, who's not vaccinated," Durant said.
The Department of Education issued a memorandum on February 25 announcing the mask requirement on buses had been lifted.
The CDC says people no longer have to wear masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school systems, including early care and education/child care programs.
According to the SC Department of Education spokesperson Ryan Brown, this was the last mask requirement still in place. Brown says districts can require students and faculty to wear a mask on the bus, but they have to adhere to DHEC and CDC guidelines, seek public input and then adopt a policy.
According to the CDC’s COVID community levels map, Orangeburg County is the only county in the Midlands with a “low” rating of community level.
Dr. Brannon Traxler with DHEC says immunocompromised children should still wear their mask on the bus. "I would encourage parents to think about it and make the best decision for their children," said Dr. Traxler.
Richland School District One is the only district with mask requirements still in place. “The district is reviewing the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the South Carolina Department of Education regarding masks," spokesperson Karen York said in a statement. "We are evaluating that information in light of Richland County’s high COVID-19 Community Level, as designated by the CDC.”
The Palmetto State Teachers Association (PSTA) said in a statement:
“PSTA has consistently advocated for school operations to be aligned to public health guidance. The decision by SCDE to rescind their mask mandate is aligned to the decision by the CDC to drop their requirement for masks on buses operated by public or private school systems.”