Masks will be optional for Polk County students, staff despite increased COVID-19 cases among children

LAKELAND, Fla. - Like most counties across Florida, masks will be optional for students and staff returning to school next week in Polk County, but a prominent Polk County physician says they should be mandatory.

"The risk has never been higher for new infection than it is right now," said Dr. Steven Achinger of Watson Clinic. "We are experiencing the highest risk of infection that we have seen to date."

In the last two weeks in Polk County, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased seven-fold primarily because of the Delta variant and at least one out of ten are kids.

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"You’re going to have a safe school environment and a successful school environment if you require students to wear masks," Achinger said.

Children ages 12 and up are eligible for the vaccine with the permission of a parent. That would cover most middle and high school students, but not elementary kids.

"I think the message is that we should be erring on the side of protecting our children," Achinger said.

However, Governor Ron DeSantis says masks interfere with communication and learning, and that districts that mandated masks last year were no better off at controlling the spread of COVID than those that didn’t.

He says parents, not the government, should decide whether their kids should wear masks and threatened to pull funding for any school districts that impose a mask mandate.

Polk’s new Superintendent of Schools, Fred Heid, says he is frustrated over COVID-19, but masks will remain optional in school. He says he is not willing at this point to join several other school districts that are mandating masks against the governor’s orders.

The first day of class in Polk County is next Tuesday.

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