HB 4071 would prohibit local public schools from putting COVID-19 mask mandates in place. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — A bill that sat dormant for more than 35 days dealing with COVID-19 school mask mandates, vaccines, and quarantines was finally taken by up by a second House of Delegates committee Tuesday.

The House Judiciary Committee recommended House Bill 4071 for passage Tuesday morning after amending the bill and a lengthy debate. The bill now heads to the full House for consideration.

HB 4071 would prohibit K-12 schools, educational institutions and elected or appointed officials from imposing mask mandates for COVID-19 on students or school employees.

According to the state Department of Education, only seven counties have made face masks optional in public schools as of Feb. 16: Doddridge, Hardy, Kanawha, Lewis, Morgan, Pocahontas, and Wood counties. According to the Huntington Herald Dispatch, the Cabell County Board of Education voted Monday to make masks optional as well.

As of last week, 30 counties require face masks in schools. Six counties tie face mask decisions to specific metrics based on spread of the virus in schools. Another 11 schools and the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind ties their face mask decisions to the color-coded County Alert System map on the Department of Health and Human Resources’ COVID-19 dashboard.

“My kids have been masked up for two years,” said Del. Chris Pritt, R-Kanawha. “We’ve had kids throughout this country and throughout this state who have never seen the face of their friends. We need to look at this in a more holistic way. We need to be thinking about not just the health in terms of whether our kids will get infected.”

When the House Education Committee first recommended HB 4071 for passage Jan. 18, there were 35 red counties on the County Alert System map for having the highest rates of infection or highest percent of positivity, with 11 counties sitting at orange. As of Tuesday, only one county was orange, with 10 counties in the gold, 21 counties in the yellow, and 23 counties in the green for lower rates of infection and percent of positivity.

According to DHHR, the state’s number of active COVID-19 cases was 4,028, the lowest since the end of the delta variant spike and the new omicron variant spike at the end of November 2021. Hospitalizations dropped from an all-time high of 1,097 on Feb. 2 to 645 hospitalizations as of Tuesday. Hospitalizations requiring intensive care unit beds (151) are at the lowest number since Aug. 21, 2021.

The bill prohibits mandatory COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic students and staff. The bill also prohibits quarantines or isolation of students and staff unless they have a confirmed positive COVID-19 test.

Del. Joe Garcia, D-Marion, attempted to offer an amendment to allow COVID-19 testing of students if a family member or guardian becomes infected. The amendment was rejected by voice vote.

“A school is left defenseless in a situation where there is a kid or an employee who can say I’m not going to come in and test that could have been infected by somebody else with the COVID virus based on being around other people who have tested positive,” Garcia said. “That puts people in danger and that is wrong.”

Del. Chad Lovejoy, D-Cabell, pointed to his home county as an example of letting local control determine the best course of action on masks, testing, and quarantines.

“I think we’re debating the wrong issue,” Lovejoy said. “The real debate is who is the decider? Is the decider politicians in Charleston? Should I be deciding what your school board does or your school board does? Or should the deciders be those at the local level elected by the people of that county who are closer to the situation and closer to the public health situation on the ground?”

“It’s all about local control; it’s the local control of the parents and the grandparents and the guardians who know their children best and know what what they need,” responded Del. Laura Kimble, R-Harrison.