Medford Public Schools will require all students and staff to wear masks in the fall

All students and staff at Medford Public Schools will be required to wear masks indoors this fall, Superintendent Marice Edouard-Vincent announced Thursday.

Aside from outdoor activities and lunch breaks, face masks will be required for all students, staff, and visitors when inside Medford Public School buildings and buses, the district said.

The in-school requirement is based upon guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics, Edouard-Vincent said in a written statement.

“While the vaccine brought us a brief period of respite from the restrictions of the pandemic, the surge of the Delta Variant is a reminder that the pandemic is not yet over,” Edouard-Vincent said.

Most Medford Public School students are not yet vaccinated against the coronavirus—the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is only approved for children above the age of 12, according to the CDC.

The CDC advised in a July 27 report that everyone should wear a mask in public indoor settings where there is a high or substantial risk of transmission, regardless of vaccination status.

Currently, 13 counties in Massachusetts are at high or substantial risk of coronavirus transmission, according to data compiled from the CDC.