The Logan County Board of Education decided Thursday night that masks will be optional for the upcoming school year that begins next week.
Board members voted to keep masks optional for students, teachers and staff during the special meeting Thursday night at the Ralph R. Willis Board Meeting Room.
The decision was not a unanimous one. Board member Debbie Mendez was the lone dissenting vote on the 4-1 approval of the action.
“As a nurse, I recommend it,” Mendez said of masks. “All I ask, if somebody decides to wear a mask, to show respect… It’s up to the individual.”
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice has left decisions about masks to local leaders but has suggested that masks could be mandatory again in the Mountain State if the current spike in cases continues.
The Logan County Health Department reported 124 active cases of COVID-19 Thursday afternoon and the state Department of Health and Human Resources confirmed over 8,000 active cases statewide.
Logan County students return to the classroom on Thursday, August 26.