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COVID-19
Catharine Richert
Rochester, Minn.

As COVID cases plummet, students take off their masks

Kids wearing face masks exit a school bus.
Children exit a bus as prekindergarten through second grade students returned for in-person learning in January 2021 at Park Brook Elementary in Brooklyn Park, Minn. Schools across Minnesota are relaxing their masking rules as COVID cases plummet around the state.
Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News 2021

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As COVID cases plummet around the state, schools are relaxing their masking rules. 

This week, Rochester Public Schools joined the pack, strongly recommending masking but making them optional in most circumstances. The decision, approved unanimously earlier this month by the school board, has parents and kids in the position of making a personal choice about whether to mask or not. 

In the Thorson family, it’s a matter of individual choice. 

Molly Thorson said she and her husband gave their three kids the choice of whether to wear masks in school now — in part because they're all vaccinated and they've all had COVID, too. 

“We've been a family that has been masking and been very careful,” he said. “I'd say the entire time of COVID, our kids pretty much wear masks without even thinking about it anymore.”

A girl in a pink mask and a green hat.
Ruby Thorson
Courtesy of Molly Thorson

Her daughter Ruby, 10, said she’s going to continue to mask most of the time at school, like during PE.

“I really don't want to get COVID again,” she said. 

Norah Thorson, 13, likes the hybrid approach, too. 

A girl in a black mask and yellow hoodie.
Norah Thorson
Courtesy of Molly Thorson

“I'm also going to mask because I feel like the rates are going to go up without it. But there are certain subjects that I won't wear a mask, like band, because those band masks are really uncomfortable,” she said. 

But their older brother, Max, a 15-year-old in high school, said he's over masks. 

"Because I already had COVID and I don't think the whole thing is a big risk in general,” he said.

MJ Thorson's 15-year-old son, Max.
Max Thorson
Courtesy of Molly Thorson

“And I'm kind of just sick of it because I've had to [wear a mask] for so long. And it's not like anyone wears their mask properly anymore, so it doesn't really matter."

Rochester Public School’s new guidance strongly recommends masking, but will only require it  when more than 5 percent of students and staff in the district’s facility have COVID-19. 

Children younger than 5 who are currently not eligible to get vaccinated against the virus must still wear masks at school.