Most county schools to drop mask requirement March 14

Wearing masks will become optional in Addison Central School District schools soon.

After Gov. Scott recommended lifting school masking recommendations, some Addison County schools are making tentative plans to do so.

Masking in Vermont schools — among the last remaining COVID-19 mitigation measures in place for students — will soon be optional for schools with a student vaccination rate of over 80%, Gov. Phil Scott announced Tuesday.

Despite the headlines from Gov. Scott’s press conference trumpeting that schools that were 80% vaccinated would be able to go maskless on Feb. 28, the reality is most schools across the state will keep wearing masks for the next few weeks.

I join Dr. Jack Mayer and the others who spoke up at the board’s Dec. 28 meeting in urging the selectboard to reconsider a mask mandate for public spaces in its jurisdiction.

I was very disappointed that at their last two meetings the Middlebury selectboard declined to issue a mask mandate (instead of merely a recommendation) for indoor public spaces in Middlebury.

I urge the selectboard of Middlebury to reconsider its decision not to impose a mask mandate for public indoor spaces in Middlebury.

The unanimous decision came as a disappointment to around 20 local residents who had implored the board — through testimony and emails — to take advantage of a new state statute that allows communities to enact mandatory mask laws.

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am with our governor and his flunkies with regards to the non-masking of Vermonters.

Why wouldn’t a mask mandate for Middlebury be important for public safety?

The communities of Vergennes, Bristol and Brandon have decided not to take advantage of a new law giving communities the option of imposing COVID-related face mask mandates for public places, while Middlebury officials are slated to consider the matter at … (read more)

Vermont currently has one of the highest rates per capita of COVID-19 in the country; it’s as bad as it’s ever been here and some of the state’s hospitals are nearing their reasonable capacity to handle such cases and still provide services for the rest o … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — The Addison Central School District community will be expected to wear masks indoors for at least the first 10 days of classes this fall, in order to give officials a chance to calculate the percentage of eligible students who have received t … (read more)

We have learned some very important lessons in the past months when it comes to educating our children. One is that nothing, not even the remarkable efforts of our teachers and administrators last year, can replace the human connection that comes from in- … (read more)

A judge ruled against the owner of a former UPS franchise Friday in Vermont’s first legal test of the state mask mandate, ordering him to comply with masking rules if he wants to keep running his store. The civil decision against Andre “Mike” Desautels — … (read more)