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GCSC drops mask mandate
Effective immediately, masks will no longer be required at Greencastle Community Schools.
Supt. Jeff Gibboney made the announcement late Wednesday afternoon.
“Over the past couple of weeks, we have observed a steady decrease in the number of positive COVID-19 cases in our schools and the local community,” Gibboney said.
As such, the superintendent cited the improving landscape in giving the following requirements for masks moving forward:
• Masks will be recommended but not required in GCSC facilities.
• Masks will be required on buses while a federal mandate is in place.
• Schools with a weekly COVID-19 positivity rate above 5 percent will be required to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status, until the weekly positivity rate drops below 4 percent.
Gibboney advised that those with questions call their building administrators.
This change returns to the policy with which GCSC began the second semester before spiking numbers from the omicron variant moved school officials to tie the mask requirement to the county’s COVID-19 status as determined by weekly Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) updates.
Under that policy, GCSC’s mask requirement would remain in place as long as Putnam County remained in the red level, the highest level of Covid alert.
While Putnam remains in the red, the metrics have fallen significantly locally, with a weekly case rate of 268 per 100,000 residents and a seven-day positivity rate of 20 percent, according to ISDH metrics released Wednesday.
At one point last month, the weekly cases per 100,000 topped 1,500, while the positivity rate was above 30 percent.
The minimum threshold for the red level is 200 cases per 100,000 and 15 percent positivity. However, Putnam County is a minimum of two weeks away from dropping to an orange rating, as metrics must fall below the threshold for two consecutive weeks before the ISDH reduces the rating.