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Pittsburgh Public Schools updated its health and safety plan to make masking optional when the community is at a low level of COVID-19 per CDC guidance.
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At a public hearing Monday, two language teachers at Pittsburgh Allderdice High School asked the board to follow CDC guidance which recommends that masks are optional unless community levels of COVID-19 are high. A few parents asked for masks to remain for the rest of the year. The board votes Wednesday.
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Masks could soon become optional in Pittsburgh Public Schools as long as COVID-19 transmission levels remain low or moderate within Allegheny County. Mandatory masking would return if cases reach the high level. The district is one of a handful in the region to maintain a mandate. The board will vote on the changes next Wednesday. The public will have a chance to weigh in Monday during the monthly public hearing.
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Allegheny County's health department says it has no plans for a mask mandate.
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The union representing University of Pittsburgh faculty says it has filed an unfair practice charge with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board because the administration didn’t discuss its upcoming masking policy shift with union leaders.A university spokesperson said Saturday that the administration had not yet seen the union’s complaint.
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Students will wear masks for at least another month. The public school board voted Wednesday to keep its mandate as a precaution against another uptick in cases after students return from spring break. It did, though, approve making them optional for arts students while performing. The board also approved spending $50,000 on a search firm as the district looks for a permanent superintendent.
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Some board members say too many students are spending time in quarantine for close contacts and it could worsen without masking.
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Pittsburgh Public Schools is the only district out of the region’s 20 largest to still require masks within school buildings. Nine other districts dropped their mask requirement after Friday, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance that masks could be removed in areas at low risk from COVID-19.
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The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed lawsuits against the two area school districts. The court said that because Allegheny County is no longer in a high risk category of COVID-19 transmission and as the CDC updated its guidance, the arguments do not need to be heard.
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On today’s episode of The Confluence: Infectious disease expert Dr. Amesh Adalja brings us up to speed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest masking guidelines, and what it means for the state to treat COVID-19 as "endemic"; and Pittsburgh Restaurant Workers Aid co-founders explain what’s new in a proposal to update the state’s rules for compensation tipped employees.