Minneapolis Public Schools lifting its mask mandate

Minneapolis Public Schools says it will lift its mask mandate starting Monday, April 18, as the district revises its COVID-19 rules amid changes to CDC guidance and low cases.

The district will no longer require masks for all schools and transportation but says students and staff can continue to wear masks at their preference.

Along with dropping the mask mandate, the district says it is also discontinuing its contact tracing program. "As a result, families will not necessarily receive notice if someone in their student’s class, athletics team, bus or other extracurricular activity has tested positive for COVID-19," the district writes.

As for quarantines, the district is making the following changes:

  • There will be no quarantine period for fully vaccinated students and/or boosted adults exposed to COVID-19.
  • The quarantine period for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated students/adults exposed to COVID-19 will change to 5 days (from 10 days) with qualifiers per public health guidelines with masks required for Days 6-10.
  • The isolation period for adults and students who tested positive for COVID-19 remains at 10 days.

The mask changes come days after St. Paul's Board of Education voted to drop its mask mandate while cases remain low.