POCATELLO — Idaho State University may soon announce changes to its current policy allowing the wearing of face masks on campus to be optional, based on recent guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control, a university spokesman said Friday.

Stuart Summers, associate vice president for marketing and communications, said the university plans to visit with officials from the State Board of Education and make certain its ultimate policy is also consistent with the state’s other public universities before publicizing coronavirus policy revisions.

Summers said the possible updates to the university’s protocols for keeping students and employees safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic should be announced this week.

“We’re trying to closely mirror the CDC guidance like we’ve done all along,” Summers said.

On July 27, the CDC announced new guidance recommending that everyone, including fully vaccinated individuals, wear a mask in public indoor settings and areas with potentially substantial transmission rates.

CDC also recommended the universal indoor masking of all teachers, staff, students and visitors in schools with kindergarten- through 12th-grade classrooms, regardless of vaccination status.

Dave Mattson, chairman of the Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 Board of Trustees, said his board will have to discuss the issue in the coming days, but he’s still hopeful that the school year will start with an optional mask policy. He believes the district made the right decision to require masks for most of the last school year, however.

“I’m glad we put them on last year and I’m glad we stuck with it,” Mattson said, adding he supports an optional mask policy for the time being. “I wanted it to be (optional), just get back to normal. We need to get back to normal as much as we can. We’ll have to discuss it and think about it.”

Maggie Mann, director of Southeastern Idaho Public Health, explained the Delta variant of COVID-19 has taken hold in the area and is much more transmissible. Mann said the district was experiencing about two cases per day about a month ago. The rate of new cases has risen to about 25 to 30 cases per day, she said.

“We definitely believe the safest way to go back to school and the way to ensure kids stay safe in school is for kids to be consistently and effectively using face coverings.

Mann explained the risk of previous COVID-19 variants being spread by fully vaccinated people was extremely low, but even vaccinated people have been spreading the Delta variant.

Mann believes it would be an “appropriate choice” for ISU to enact a mask mandate to ensure the continuation of in-person instruction. She also encourages anyone who is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to get one, emphasizing that they are safe and effective.

“People are frustrated because they feel like the CDC guidance changes. This is a rapidly changing situation and they are making decisions based on really new evidence that is occurring on a weekly basis, and almost on a daily basis.

“I know people aren’t happy about this. We’re not happy about this, but that is the situation.”