At its regular meeting, Monday, Sept. 27, the USD 470 Board of Education approved revised COVID-19 protocols as presented in the USD 470 Forward plan. The changes to the district’s COVID Safety/Testing/Exclusion protocols can be found online. These changes go into effect Tuesday, Sept. 28 which means the current mask requirement will no longer be in effect. The updated plan allows for masking to be optional until 10 percent (or more) of an individual school’s population is impacted by COVID-19. This COVID-19 impact number is calculated by taking the total number of students/staff who are COVID-positive, close contacts who are eligible for Test to Stay, and close contacts who are quarantined and dividing that number by the total number of students and staff in that building. The plan allows students and staff members who have been exposed in the school setting to receive a rapid test each day in order to stay in school instead of automatically having to quarantine.