EDUCATION + SCHOOLS

More than 1 million masks sent to schools across Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Masks are not required in classrooms for teachers or students when school starts Monday, but there will still be plenty of them on hand if they want to mask up. 

More than 1 million masks were sent out to schools across Utah last week. They were purchased using federal money allocated to Utah specifically for fighting the pandemic. 

“Small-sized pediatric masks that are for K-6 students throughout the state,” Utah Department of Health spokesman Tom Hudachko told Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News on Friday. “Then we’ve also got some larger adult-sized KN-95 masks for older kids and staff.” 

Hudachko explained hundreds of thousands of more masks are on order and should arrive later this month. 

Will masks in classrooms be used?

Hudachko understands many of those masks might go unused, but the state health department still wants them available to anyone who wants one. 

“We know that not every staff member in a school is going to take us up on this offer. We know that not every kid who attends school is going to take us up on this offer,” said Hudachko. 

A mask mandate for K-6 schools in Salt Lake County was voted down by the Salt Lake County Council last week. 

Read more:

• Some teachers will still wear masks when school starts
• Dr. Andy Pavia: Sending kids to school without masks would be a “terrible mistake.”
• University of Utah asks students to wear masks for fall semester
• Masks dominate Canyons School Board meeting before classes start
• CDC updates guidance, recommends vaccinated people wear masks indoors in certain areas