Students in Fulton County schools could soon be able to ditch their masks in the classrooms.
Fulton County Superintendent Mike Looney announced Thursday he plans to lift the mask mandate 30 days after students, ages 5 to 11, become eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Looney also announced that beginning Nov. 1, he may waive the mask mandates for individual schools if the ratio of cases in a school remains less than .01 of enrollment.
Looney said masks will still be required on buses due to a federal order.
Fulton County schools said the number of COVID-19 cases appears to have peaked and has been trending downward since early September. A “significant majority” of Fulton County schools employees are fully vaccinated, officials said.
As of Oct. 19, Fulton County has recorded 110,213 confirmed cases and 20,701 probable cases of COVID-19, the county schools said. The county has recorded 1,584 deaths from COVID-19. The Georgia Department of Health said 160 deaths are currently under review.