PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — While Pinellas County still has a mask mandate in place during the coronavirus pandemic, on Tuesday the school board will decide whether to extend its emergency mandate for the district.

The district’s current mask mandate expired on Monday, but school officials said students and staff are still required to wear masks on campus until the board votes. Board members said they’ll rely heavily on experts’ advice when making a decision on the mandate.

“We definitely have to listen to the medical experts, because if not, why have we even asked them? That's going to play a big part, but what I will be listening to from the public is, is there something we haven't thought of, or haven't considered?” said Pinellas County School Board Chairperson Carol Cook. 

Cook said the mask mandate the board will consider Tuesday will be similar to the previous mandates, however, the mandate will not have an expiration date, and instead it will be reviewed at least every three calendar months.

So far, Cook said masks appear to be working in schools. She said when the schools had positive cases and done contact tracing, the cases have come from the outside.

Not everyone agrees, though, as masks in schools have become a heated issue with parents.

“There are people who are firmly against it, and people who are firmly for it, so again, like I said, we'll be listening to both and making our decision based on all of the information we have. We're going to do the best we can to make sure we are keeping your children safe, and on top of that, we're also going to be able to give them the best education possible,” said Cook.

There are now more than 10 million cases of the coronavirus in the United States, and in Florida, nearly 850,000.