As of November 18, 2021, BSM is back to an indoor mask mandate.

On Wednesday evening, President Adam Ermahntraut sent an email to parents informing them of the change. He cited rising cases in both the school and local communities as reason for the change.

Over the past few weeks, COVID-19 cases at BSM have risen dramatically. The week before the policy change, there were nine new cases of Covid, and 171 students on the “must mask” list. Additionally, 58 students were learning virtually. This increase caught the Minnesota Department of Health’s attention, and they instructed the school to change their mask policy to better address this outbreak.

As of now, this change in policy will last through December 3. After that, the administration will re-evaluate their mask policy and decide whether or not the mandate should be extended. “We had a conversation about it today…if our numbers continue to be high, then we’ll probably continue to mask up until at least Christmas,” Covid coordinator Cami Dahlstrom said.

Many teachers are relieved at this change. Because many of them have young unvaccinated children and are limited to a certain number of sick days per year, teachers were growing concerned with the increased risk of exposure to Covid at BSM. They also feel that it alleviates worry and focus directed towards Covid that can now be put towards learning. “It’s a good way to keep everyone in school and keep them doing what they should be doing at school,” English teacher Andrea Manos said.

The switch back to masks means significant changes to the school’s quarantine policy. Previously, unvaccinated students who sat near a Covid-postive student would need to quarantine, and vaccinated students would need to be masked. Dahlstrom would need to keep careful track of which email to send to which students and make sure everyone followed the correct procedure. Now, everyone follows the same procedure. “I’m not sending two different messages about you have to quarantine and you have to mask. Now you have a Covid positive in your classroom, you need to look for symptoms and get tested if you have any,” Dahlstrom said.

This policy is generally consistent with other metro-area Catholic high schools. “I go to a meeting…every other Wednesday with all the other Catholic high schools, and all the COVID coordinators meet…other schools have done the same thing as we’ve done. They’ve gone back and forth depending on their numbers, masking or non masking,” Dahlstrom said.

Generally, people have been understanding of the new policy because it means everyone has an extra layer of protection against Covid and can learn in-person. “Overall, it’s been really positive. Even families and people who aren’t loving masks can understand while we’re in this high number and higher range that it’s so important to keep the kids in school,” Dahlstrom said.