TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Saturday that schools should continue to follow the current COVID-19 prevention strategies in place for the remainder of the 2020-2021 K-12 school year.
This recommendation includes the continued use of masks by students and school employees.
The news comes just days after the CDC eased the indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places.
The Food and Drug Administration also approved Pfizer’s emergency use authorization of its coronavirus vaccine to children 12 to 15 years old this week.
Several Tampa Bay school districts, including Pasco County, have already announced that masks will be required for the rest of the current school year and will make a plan for the 2021-2022 school year at a later date.
Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran had asked school superintendents in April to make face masks voluntary for the 2021-2022 school year.
Below are the dates for the last day of school in each Tampa Bay county:
- Hardee County
- May 26
- Pasco County
- May 26
- Highlands County
- May 27
- Manatee County
- May 27
- Hillsborough County
- May 28
- Polk County
- June 3
- Citrus County
- June 4
- Pinellas County
- June 9
- Sarasota County
- June 11
- Hernando County
- June 18
