Dear Burgundy Community,

On Friday, February 25, 2022, we will begin a campus policy of masks optional outdoors.

We have a highly vaccinated community, a diminished threat in a less virulent virus, improving regional metrics, affirmation from our medical advisory, and a strong community commitment to staying at home when sick. Most physicians are not indicating outdoor mask-wearing for healthy children, and many schools have not required mask-wearing outdoors or are moving to masks optional outdoors.

The risk-reward analysis has shifted toward allowing our community members to exercise some choice and individual responsibility regarding COVID mitigation. Also, this new policy is not predicated on vaccination status; our documented vaccination is at about 90% for eligible employees and students. Individual choices, such as one-way masking, are effective personal mitigations. The threat of serious illness for vaccinated and/or otherwise healthy people, including all children, even unvaccinated young children, is very low, lower than other risks we live with routinely. The data does not support maintaining the strictest protocols outdoors.

Lower and Middle School divisions will share any necessary details about implementing this change. Because we have differing experiences and assessments, we do expect that some community members may continue to mask outdoors. We must be committed as a community to honoring people’s and families’ individual decisions.

We continue to review our other COVID protocols. Keeping in mind the dimmer switch metaphor, we will adapt protocols to current conditions. We’ll signal additional adjustments as we have them.

Thank you for all of your collaboration to date!
Jeff

Jeff Sindler
Head of School