BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Many students at North Dakota’s public and nonpublic schools will be receiving cloth masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19, state School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said Tuesday.
North Dakota is receiving almost 160,000 masks, an allocation based on the number of students from low-income families. The emphasis is on first providing masks to students who come from low-income households or who are at higher risk, Baesler said.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced last week that students and adults in schools who have been in close contact with a person infected with COVID-19 do not have to quarantine, if both the close contact and the infected person were both wearing masks properly when they were in contact.
“Mask use among students, teachers, administrators and school support personnel not only promotes public health, it can reduce the number of quarantines necessary if there are close contacts with someone who is infected with the virus,” Baesler said.
North Dakota for several weeks has been among the leaders in the country for the number of virus cases per capita.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will help cover the costs of the masks, Baesler said.
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