Hyde County Schools bring back indoor mask mandate


Following an increase in COVID-19 infections among staff and students in the Hyde County schools, the Hyde County Board of Education on Tuesday enacted a temporary mask mandate.

“Throughout today, we have seen a dramatic increase in positive COVID cases in our staff and students at all schools,” said a notice on the board’s Facebook page. “All current indications are that this will continue through January.”

At their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, the board voted to require face-coverings indoors for everyone — staff, students and visitors — in Hyde County Schools effective immediately for at least the next 30 days. Face coverings are still required on all public transportation including school buses.

The mandate includes all those attending indoor athletic events. All athletes will be required to wear face-coverings unless they are actively engaged in the event.

“We are committed to keeping our students, staff and visitors as safe as possible, and we appreciate your willingness to help us successfully navigate this spike in cases,” the notice said.

With cases of COVID-19 reaching record highs and hospitalizations increasing, the BOE action follows Gov. Roy Cooper’s call earlier in the day for all North Carolinians to get vaccinated and get a booster as soon as they are eligible to protect themselves from severe illness from the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19.