By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


Starting today, a mask mandate has been issued for a Livingston County elementary school.

After several students tested positive for COVID-19 at Hartland’s Round Elementary school, Superintendent Chuck Hughes said in a letter to parents that all students and staff at the school must wear a cloth mask over their nose and mouth while indoors. The mandate will run through Labor Day, Monday, September 6th, after which it will be reassessed.

Hughes attributed the infections to “outside exposure,” but said that it was enough that the district felt it “necessary to take this precaution instead of shutting down the building.” Masks are currently optional for Hartland students, as they are in all of the Livingston County districts.

Round Elementary students and staff are the only ones who are under the mask mandate. Current statistics provided by the district indicate that there are three confirmed cases at the school and at least three probable cases, with 122 students already in quarantine. In all, there are 22 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the district, including nine at Hartland High School.

The only other district to have started classes already is Howell Public Schools, which is reporting a total of 15 confirmed cases. Howell, however, does not report the number of students in quarantine.

According to the MI Safe Start Map, Livingston County is in the High-Risk category, with a current test positivity rate of 11.6%, and 374 cases were diagnosed in the last week.