Madison City Schools’ superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols announced new masking and quarantine rules agreed upon by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) for the start of the spring semester. Quarantine is now a minimum of five days if you have tested positive for Covid-19 or have been exposed and are unvaccinated and zero days if you have been exposed and fully vaccinated. Dr. Nichols shared the update on the district website:

Some are skeptical about the CDC’s new guidance on quarantine, considering it has changed while the actual spread of Covid-19 remains about the same, moving beyond Alabama’s handling of the pandemic and directly toward the CDC’s handling of it. Around 15 percent of the 42 students Patriot Pages polled claimed that they do not trust the CDC. The Dallas Observer noted that “the National Nurses Association, the largest nurses’ union in the U.S., accused the CDC of changing guidelines according to pressure from political and private interests.” Other experts have been frustrated with the lack of testing status required for return to work and failure to recommend better masks. 

Masking is currently mandatory for the MCS school system, though enforcement varies. Students and even some teachers have been seen improperly wearing their masks and occasionally not wearing them at all. While pandemic fatigue is real, most staff members do still try their best to keep masks on and their area clean.