County No Longer Recommending Masks, Schools Dropping Mask Rules

hospital-safe-1-62
hospital-safe-1-62

The Berrien County Health Department has updated its COVID-19 guidance to remove a public masking recommendation. Acting Berrien County Health Officer Guy Miller told the Berrien County Board of Commissioners Thursday things are different now than they were when the mask recommendation was first made.

“The reason for making, it used to be universal source control,” Miller said. “Now we’re seeing with KN95 masks, that’s going to provide you a good amount of protection. So, if you’re concerned about getting COVID-19, get vaccinated, wear a KN-95 mask, social distance when you can. Those are things you can do as an individual. We didn’t have all of those tools before.”

Miller said we’re at a point where those at most risk, like the obese or the elderly, should make the decision to mask for themselves.

“We are moving towards pandemic to endemic, and this is one of the things that we need the community to understand.”

Miller said most Berrien County school districts will have dropped their mask rules by Monday if they haven’t already. Miller said you can get vaccinated, and you can still distance and mask up if you want.