Mayor Bowser drops District’s private school mask mandate

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has dropped the mask mandate for private schools in the District following a lawsuit from two Catholic school families.

But while face masks are now optional in religious schools and private businesses, the District still requires them in public schools and may enforce them on private campuses again if the COVID-19 numbers rise.

New guidance from the D.C. Health Department, posted online last Tuesday one day after the parents filed their lawsuit, states that “most people no longer need to wear masks indoors or outdoors at educational facilities unless COVID-19 community levels are HIGH.”

If COVID-19 community levels are “medium,” the guidelines add that “people who are immunocompromised or at higher risk for severe COVID-19” should continue wearing a mask or respirator indoors.

“Anyone who develops symptoms of COVID-19 while at an educational facility must put on a mask or respirator, leave the facility, and begin isolation,” the guidance states.

Citing the new guidelines, the Archdiocese of Washington last Wednesday lifted its mask mandate for Catholic schools in a letter to parents.

Sheila Dugan, the primary parent named in the lawsuit against Miss Bowser, said Friday that her Catholic school lifted its mask requirement after the city and archdiocese announcements.

“When our Catholic school principal sent official word out that evening, you could practically hear the cheers of our kids from across the District,” Ms. Dugan said. “As a mother, I’ll never forget that feeling of immense relief.”

Nevertheless, she added that “this isn’t over.”

“We are committed to ensuring this sort of unfair, irrational and unconstitutional treatment of our children never happens again,” Ms. Dugan said.

The mayor’s office did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

But attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative public interest law firm representing the parents, said Friday that they had withdrawn their lawsuit.

“Although we are dismissing our case, we remain concerned that the District is threatening to make kids in religious schools wear masks again if [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] numbers change,” senior counsel Matt Bowman said. “The District is not attaching that requirement to other places like strip clubs, sports venues and offices. If the District actually imposes a mask mandate on religious schools in the future, this discrimination could land the District right back in court.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.