On February 14th, NHS made a significant step forward in the battle against COVID-19. Ever since the mask mandate was put into place at the beginning of the school year, students have been required to wear their masks while attending school. Positive COVID-19 cases significantly dropped with the mandate being utilized throughout the school system and have not had a large increase since.

NHS recently went “maskless” due to the low rate of positive cases. This Valentine’s Day, the mask mandate was completely removed from Noblesville High School. However, the new mask policy has brought concern to some health officials.

“I’m weary because I don’t want to get to a point where we have to go backwards,” Alyssa Spoonamore, who is one of the school nurses at NHS, said.

However, Spoonamore says she’s glad to see the situation improving. 

“I’m really excited about the progress we’ve made,” Spoonamore said. “It’s good to see students maskless.”

Students now have the freedom to wear their masks as they please, which has not happened since the pandemic began back in March of 2020. Some teachers and students say it’s good to get back to a sense of “normal.”

“I want to keep moving forward, but I’m supportive of whatever keeps everyone safe,” said Spoonamore.