KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Students who attend school within the boundaries of North Kansas City will continue wearing masks to class.
The city council voted 6-1 Tuesday night to extend the current order through Feb. 5.
This decision comes as many districts moved in the opposite direction, making masks optional for students after the Kansas City, Missouri, mandate expired on Jan. 1.
"In-person education is critical to our students and I believe masking is one mitigation measure we can take to help keep our schools open," North Kansas City Mayor Bryant DeLong wrote on Twitter.
He cited pleas from area hospitals to take precautions as a major reason for making the decision.
We can't continue ignoring our regional hospitals pleas regarding this surge. Our hospitals are filling quickly while also experiencing a high % of staff outages due to Covid.
Masking isn't a perfect solution. But it is one of many things we as a region can do to help. pic.twitter.com/rP5b61UZqq
— Bryant DeLong (@bryantd23) January 5, 2022
Not all schools within the North Kansas City School District are within the city limits of North Kansas City, so the update only affects North Kansas City High School and Briarcliff Elementary.
