Masks no longer required on school buses as Covid data improves

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - As part of the CDC's new guidance on COVID-19 on Friday, children boarding school buses are no longer required to wear masks.

The CDC issued new guidance on Friday that allowed almost 70% of Americans to take a break from wearing a mask. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined the new set of measures for communities where COVID-19 is easing its grip, with less of a focus on positive test results and more on what’s happening at hospitals.

As part of the new guidance from the CDC, masks are no longer required on "buses or vans operated by public or private school systems, including early care and education/child care programs."

While the mask requirements on buses has been lifted, it is not the same for an airplane or a train; masks are still required in those places at this time.

The changes came just days before both Oakland and Washtenaw County lifted an order in early February that required schools enforce masking among students, teachers, and staff while indoors. Those orders will rescind on Feb. 28. Wayne County lifted its mask mandate immediately following an announcement on Feb. 17.

That means students in those counties are leaving their homes, boarding buses, and going to school without anything on their face.

The new system greatly changes the look of the CDC's risk map and puts more than 70% of the U.S. population in counties where the coronavirus is posing a low or medium threat to hospitals. Those are the people who can stop wearing masks, the agency said.

Macomb, Wayne, Washtenaw, and Oakland counties were all medium threat level, according to the CDC's interactive map.

The agency is still advising that people, including schoolchildren, wear masks where the risk of COVID-19 is high. That's the situation in about 37% of U.S. counties, where about 28% of Americans reside.

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The most up-to-date numbers of COVID-19 in Michigan report an 8.1% test positivity rate. Hospitalizations have fallen by more than 50% over the past month. Approximately 66% of the state's eligible population has received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne County - not including Detroit - have all reached the state's 70% threshold for vaccine coverage, the state's dashboard shows. The city of Detroit continues to lag behind those rates, reaching only 48.5% of the population.