On February 10th, 2022 Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) announced a future plan for masking. The county is seeing a decrease in the number of cases, and the current seven day average is “the lowest that the district has seen since December 20th,” reports FFX Now. Though we are still in a high transmission zone, the decrease in cases provides some hope after the Omicron surge. 

FCPS will implement its new roll back strategy once the county reaches moderate transmission, and stays there for at least seven consecutive days. Once that happens, a few things will change, the biggest being that masks will become optional. The return of universal masking will come back upon arrival of high transmission rates, or if there is an outbreak at the school. FCPS faculty who are unvaccinated, or not fully-vaccinated, will be required to wear masks at all times, despite transmission rates. Student Screening Testing will still be available during moderate, substantial, and high transmission rates, but it will no longer be offered during a low transmission rate period. The contact tracing, pause, and quarantine guidelines will remain the same until further notice. 

According to the Fairfax County Health Department, 81.1% of Fairfax County residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 73.2% are fully vaccinated.