JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One day into the new school year, Duval County Public Schools is asking students to refrain from wearing neck gaiters or masks with vents on them. The district said it is “discouraging the wearing of these types of face coverings in school and on school buses.”
Duval County father Tim Zapata said his children -- one in high school, one in middle school -- were both told on the first day of school that the neck gaiters they were wearing were not allowed.
“Immediately when he got on campus, he was told you are not allowed to wear this, stopped by a security guard,” Zapata said, adding the school provided face coverings for them to replace the neck gaiters.
The CDC has warned against using masks with ventilation holes, saying they do not prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Masks with one-way valves or vents allow exhaled air to be expelled out through holes in the material. This can allow exhaled respiratory droplets to reach others and potentially spread the COVID-19 virus,” the CDC wrote on its website.
District officials confirmed Friday to News4Jax that the decision to discourage neck gaiters was based, in part, on a study from Duke University that suggested neck gaiters could spread the virus more than wearing no mask at all.
RELATED: Researchers: Neck gaiters might be worse than no mask at all
Researchers involved in that study have since said their findings were misconstrued and told the New York Times that “our intent was not to say this mask doesn’t work, or never use neck gaiters.”
Other scientists, including researchers at UC Davis, Trinity University and Virginia Tech, have said that neck gaiters can protect as well as cloth masks depending on the material they’re made from.
RELATED: New research: Neck gaiters can protect as well as cloth masks, scientists say
All students who return to school buildings are given a cloth face covering that meets the district’s standards, DCPS said. According to the district’s mask policy, “facial coverings or shields must cover the nose and mouth only and may not conceal the majority of the student’s face.”
The district said students who come with neck gaiters or masks with valves will be given a disposable face covering for the day and will be expected to bring their district-issued mask or other appropriate face covering on future school days.
The district has said that students who don’t comply with the face mask policy could be removed from school.
The district confirmed Friday that students who wear neck gaiters will likely NOT be punished as they would if they wore no mask at all -- but instead they’ll be asked to remove the mask and put on the district-approved disposable covering.
A poster layout attributed to Duval County Public Schools shows both the proper procedure for wearing a facial covering and the consequences for failing to do so: