With several public school districts heavily weighing the timeline of current mask mandates, Governor Andy Beshear is asking officials to wait just a shade longer before moving forward mask free.
The reason, he said in his Thursday afternoon news conference, is because of the 5-to-11 age group, which only recently became eligible for a weakened but effective version of the COVID-19 vaccinations.
Beshear noted it takes no less than five weeks — from first dose until two weeks after the second dose — to reach optimal immunity standards, which would bring families close to the Christmas holiday.
This would make the beginning of the second semester in January 2022 as a more optimal time to remove masks in school, in which more counties across the Commonwealth could very well be in a continued downward trend of positivity.
Already 57% of the state’s eligible population has been vaccinated with at least one dose of Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson — now at more than 2,563,000 Kentuckians. At least 70% of those 18 and older have one dose, and 88% of those 75 and up also have some protection.
Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack noted the state-wide demand for both boosters, as well as vaccines for those aged 5-to-11, is relatively high — and that families should stay patient as clinics open their doors for more patients.
Stack said testing for COVID-19 in public schools has been effective thus far in the school year, and that at least 80% of the state’s 1,200 schools have used state-supported testing through federal grants.
More than 200,000 tests have been administered since August.
One key development coming in the battle against COVID-19 and its variants includes the expedited development of an anti-viral pill from Merck used to treat coronavirus symptoms — which already has approval in the United Kingdom.
Stack believed the Food and Drug Administration would be reviewing the medication at the end of November, and if approved, would be available to the US in extremely limited doses by the first week of December.
Even then, Stack added the biggest concern for the pill is for women who are pregnant, expecting or of child-bearing age — as they will have to have a negative pregnancy test and be within five days of new symptoms in order to be prescribed the medication.
Beshear, meanwhile, said he has yet taken the time to read Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s joined lawsuit against President Joe Biden and his federal vaccine-and-testing mandate for federal contract workers and at facilities that treat Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Biden’s mandate takes effect January 4.
