California officials on Monday announced that no changes will be made to the state’s mask mandate for schoolchildren.

Instead, health leaders will assess the situation again in two weeks.

“Based on our data … it’s reasonable that we’re getting to a place where we can relax the statewide masking requirement. We will today not make a change. There will be no change on the masking requirement,” said California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly at a live-streamed news conference.

Teachers Union Supports Delay

Gov. Gavin Newsom indicated at a news conference last week that he wanted to soon end the mask mandate in public schools, but he ran into opposition from teachers unions.

“They just asked for a little bit more time, and I think that’s responsible, and I respect that,” the governor said of teachers unions at a news conference Wednesday. “But we are also in a date with destiny. We recognize that we want to turn the page on the status quo.”

Teachers’ union @WeAreCTA backs @GavinNewsom on not yet unmasking students:

“We support the administration’s decision to pause and gather more information to make a science-based decision on school masking that responds to this moment in the pandemic”

— Jeremy B. White (@JeremyBWhite) February 14, 2022

GOP Criticizes Delay on Dropping Mask Requirement

A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee criticized Monday’s decision not to drop the school mask requirement.

“The decision to force students and teachers to continue wearing masks at school is not only out-of-line with science, but is hypocritical and dangerous for the education of California’s children,” said RNC spokesperson Hallie Balch in a news release.

“For two years, children have been forced to forgo a natural learning environment and have had their personal growth stymied because of out-of-touch mandates. With hundreds of pictures of celebrities and lawmakers ignoring the rules at sporting events, every Californian should be enraged that Democrats change the rules for their friends yet force children to continue to suffer.”

California Dem: ‘It’s Time to Declare End to Pandemic’

In an op-ed in The Sacramento Bee published Monday, Rep. Ami Bera, an internal medicine physician and the former chief medical officer for Sacramento County, said, “It’s time to declare an end to this pandemic.”

As we enter the third year of the pandemic, it’s time we acknowledge that COVID is here to stay. We must learn how to manage and live with it as we have with other respiratory pathogens.

We need to get our lives back. And we can.

My op-ed in @sacbee_news:https://t.co/8rc8zl9Mhe

— Ami Bera, M.D. (@RepBera) February 14, 2022

While stopping short of calling to end the school mask mandate, Bera wrote:

“To get our lives back to normal, we need to have all our children back in school and keep them there. The setbacks our children have faced and the challenges to parents have been immeasurable. We can keep our schools open while also keeping students, teachers, and staff safe.”