PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – As Oregon signals an end to wearing masks in public places, parents are protesting the state not lifting mask requirements soon enough after the Oregon Health Authority announced indoor mask requirements will be lifted by March 31.
There’s growing frustration and pressure on schools to dump the mask requirement now that COVID-19 cases are dropping daily.
In Salem on Tuesday, hundreds of angry parents and students lined Lancaster Drive Northeast, near the school district office, to show their support of getting rid of the mask rule.
State health leaders say they are not lowering the school mask requirement right now.
This is because more than a thousand people are still hospitalized with COVID and there’s a very limited number of available beds.
COVID-19 case counts can be a bit misleading as home tests are more available, more people who test positive are not accounted for in state numbers.
So far in the school year, masks are required for all students and staff regardless of whether they’re vaccinated. Districts have to comply with the state rules or risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding.
On Tuesday morning, there was another anti-school mask rally in Sherwood, some students say masks should be a choice.
Some of those who want school masks made optional say they don’t trust OHA to lift the restriction.
Part of the frustration is the state is not giving out details on what case counts and hospitalization numbers need to be before they will get rid of the school mask requirement.
The state says masks slow the spread of the virus and until we are well past the peak of omicron, they will stay for now.