FORT SMITH, Ark. — COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the Fort Smith Public Schools area, meaning a mask mandate will stay in place, at least for now. The mandate helped significantly reduce COVID disruptions among students and faculty, according to Superintendent Dr. Terry Morawski.
The FSPS school board voted Jan. 10 to reinstate a mask mandate for 30 days unless the district falls to 49 or less cases per 10,000 residents before that time. At the time, the district was in the purple zone with 137 cases per 10,000 residents. On Monday (Jan. 24) the district was in the pink zone (the highest level of cases) with 248 cases per 10,000 residents, according to the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) report for Jan. 17. ACHI releases a new report every Thursday, Morawski told the school board Monday. The classification is based on a two-week average.
If the district goes below 50 cases per 10,000 for a consecutive 14-day period, it will fall into the orange category as determined by ACHI.
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