At 2:00 pm, Friends Select released a statement stating that the school will be going mask optional starting Wednesday, March 9th. This applies to students and teachers. Students will be required to wear masks for the four days following spring break, though. “Indeed as a school, we are at a radically different point in this pandemic than where we were two years ago, or even two months ago,” writes Head of School Michael Gary in a statement to the community.

Michael, Nursy Kelly, and the medical advisory team will host a virtual community-wide town hall Zoom next Tuesday, March 8th at 7 pm to discuss these protocol changes.

Yesterday, Philadelphia ended its indoor mask mandate “after federal health authorities recommend people in areas like the region no longer needed to go masked,” says the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Two weeks ago, the city released its benchmarks for COVID restrictions. “The system required three of the four following conditions to be met before masking could end: average daily cases to drop under 100; fewer than 50 people hospitalized with COVID; a test positivity rate under 2%; and cases not rising by more than 50% within the past 10 days,” explains the Inquirer. As of Tuesday, the city was averaging 87 new cases per day. 

However, masks are still required in schools, “in health-care settings, and on public transit.” James Garrow of the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health writes, “we plan to end mandatory masking in schools on March 9th. Then, we will have a 1-week mask requirement after spring break to avoid a post-break surge in cases.” City buildings will also continue to require masks until Monday, March 7th. Additionally, “Businesses and other institutions are allowed to be more strict than the City’s COVID Response Levels, so some businesses may require proof of vaccination or that everyone wears a mask.”

Garrow writes, “However, it’s important to remember that the pandemic is not over. If a new COVID variant were to come to Philadelphia or cases started to rise again, we may need to move to the Mask Precautions Level or higher and start enforcing the public mandates again.”