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Marietta City Schools students and personnel returned to classes, and wearing masks, on Monday.
"Please understand that this is in response to the increasing spread of COVID cases in our community," Superintendent Will Hampton said in a Sunday post on the district's Facebook page. "Positive COVID cases are increasing rapidly. Our goal is to be safe and to remain in school for instruction. This is the most reasonable and responsible decision at this time."
Hampton said the decision would be revisited in two weeks to determine whether the requirement would continue.
Everyone -- including visitors, spectators at sporting events or those attending other after-school activities -- must wear a mask in district facilities.
"We expect the same behavior out of every adult that walks in our buildings as we do our students," said Janelle Patterson, director of media and communications for Marietta City Schools.
The goal of the move is to keep children in the classroom, Patterson said.
"We know they learn better in the building. We know that removes a lot of the barriers and inequities," she said. "We can see our students. We can make sure that their needs are being met."
Washington County has been averaging about 35 new cases a day lately, said Becky Jones, public health nurse with the Marietta Belpre Health Department.
"That's an uptick after the holidays, for sure," she said. "We expected that."
The department is receiving calls daily from people seeking at-home tests, which are in short supply.
"If they're wanting a home test from us, they really should be symptomatic," Jones said.
Area drug stores and quick-care medical facilities are testing, but Jones said people should call ahead rather than just showing up.
So far, other Washington County school districts have not followed Marietta in requiring masks again.
"We are not mandating masks at this time," said Wolf Creek Local Superintendent Doug Baldwin.
Fort Frye Superintendent Stephanie Starcher said they are not implementing any mask mandates at this point. Students were back to school Tuesday after the holiday break and attendance was the same as any normal January day, she said.
Frontier Superintendent Beth Brown said the number of students and staff with COVID are "very, very low".
"At this time, we're going to stay (masks) optional. The board and I continue to watch our data to see if we need to make any changes," she said.
Warren Local Superintendent Kyle Newton said they are taking a wait-and-see approach.
"As of now, our student/staff attendance does not warrant any type of change in policy or procedures," he said.
A message left with Belpre Superintendent Jeff Greenley was not returned Tuesday.
Wood County Schools continues to require masks while the county is orange or red on the state's County Alert System map.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.
Michele Newbanks can be reached at mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com.