More school districts to allow optional masking; local pediatrician weighs in

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — After months of mandatory masking, four school districts in Hampton Roads will peel back their policies that make masks optional.

Students in Hampton, Accomack County, Isle of Wight County and York County will all have the choice to wear a mask in class from here on out. They were already optional in Virginia Beach, Gloucester County and Chesapeake.

10 On Your Side spoke with the medical director of Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk about the change in Virginia policy.

“Just because something isn’t mandatory doesn’t mean that you can’t keep doing it,” said Dr. Doug Mitchell, medical director of CHKD Medical Group.

Mitchell oversees 20 pediatric practices at 31 locations across the region. He’s also a pediatrician at Norfolk Pediatrics.

“The American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC are still recommending based upon the science and the data that masks do help prevent spread and vaccines help prevent severe outcomes,” Mitchell explained.

Hospitals and medical centers are still taking maximum precautions and encourage you do, too.

“We are still seeing hospitalizations in pediatric patients,” Mitchell stated.

He told 10 On Your Side the medical group saw a 50% COVID positivity rate just a few weeks ago. Now with cases below 10%, another danger is lurking: multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C.

Between October and now, Mitchell says the medical group has treated 45 children with the post-COVID complication that can be life-threatening if not quickly treated. CHKD has treated 85 children since the beginning of the pandemic.

For those who may be apprehensive about Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order calling for optional masking in schools — Mitchell says to keep the three W’s in mind: wear, wait and wash.

“Maintaining more than one mitigation measure is the best way to move forward until we’re a little bit better,” Mitchell said.

He also encourages children to get vaccinated and those 12 and older to get their COVID-19 booster shots.

Norfolk, Newport News and Portsmouth have yet to make an official announcement on optional masking.