OU requires vaccinations for students, staff

Three more school districts in the county are now requiring masks, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dawson-Bryant schools announced that they will be requiring masks when U.S. Centers for Disease Control Levels of Community Transmission for the county are listed at “High” (Red), which is currently the case for the entire state of Ohio.

The district said masks would be strongly recommended for lower levels.

Also this week, Symmes Valley and Rock Hill announced that masks would be required, using the same metric.

The three districts join Chesapeake, South Point, Ironton and Tri-State STEM+M Early College High School in requiring masks.

Meanwhile, at the college level, Ohio University announced that it will require vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff by Nov. 15 at all the campuses.

“Our commitment is to provide our students with the most normal college experience possible, but the reality is that as a nation, we are not as far as we hoped we would be in battling the pandemic. Public health experts are tracking an increase in cases in Ohio and on our campuses due to the extremely contagious Delta variant, and we need to do everything we can to continue to show our care and respect for one another and do our part to help keep the entire community safe and healthy,” Ohio University president Hugh Sherman said in a news release.