Mayfield, Ky.–With Graves County joining Calloway and Marshall Counties in the red for COVID cases, the Graves County Schools have announced they will be requiring masks for everyone in buildings beginning today.
The following is the statement from Superintendent Matthew Madding:
“After multiple conversations with our local health department and medical professionals regarding current COVID-19 data in our county, Graves County Schools will be requiring masks for all persons while in our buildings beginning Wednesday, August 4. Our hope is this is a temporary adjustment to our requirements. This decision will be reviewed on a weekly basis with the county incidence rate and school specific data being utilized as key factors to adjust those requirements.
We believe in-person learning is crucial to the academic, social and emotional well-being of our students. To that end, our goal is to provide a safe and healthy atmosphere so our schools can remain open throughout the entirety of this school year. With the current significant increase of positive COVID-19 cases in our community, the likelihood of having to transition to remote learning greatly increases. With this reality, it is necessary to take steps that would reduce the number of students, faculty, and staff that would have to go into quarantine from school related activities. Current guidelines from the Kentucky Department of Public Health require a person to quarantine if they have had a close contact with someone that tested positive for COVID-19.
A close contact does not have to quarantine if:
They were fully vaccinated and have no symptoms.
OR
Both parties were properly wearing masks.
We will not be requiring any of our students or employees to be vaccinated, so our primary tool to fight against quarantines is requiring masks to be worn. It is important to remember that our reopening plan is a living document and is subject to change throughout the school year.
Masking is a requirement we were hoping to avoid, however at this time it is a necessary step as we strive to provide uninterrupted in-person instruction.
Thank you,
Matthew Madding
Superintendent
Graves County Schools