WILMINGTON — Delaware’s emergency masking requirement in public and private K-12 schools was extended until Feb. 8 by Gov. John Carney on Wednesday.

Children between the ages of 5-11 recently became eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Gov. Carney said in a statement the hope is the extension will provide enough time for enough children to be fully vaccinated by Feb. 8 to lift the mandate in its entirety.

“It’s our hope that, by February, we will be able to lift the state mask requirement,” Gov. Carney said. “Our focus over the coming weeks and months will be on increasing Delaware’s vaccination rates. That’s how we’ll finally move past this pandemic. These vaccines are free, safe, and extremely protective against the COVID-19 virus. Getting the shot will keep Delaware’s children protected, and keep them in school. I’d encourage all eligible Delawareans to get their shot.”

The masking requirement in schools was originally issued as part of an emergency order on Aug. 13 by the Secretary of Education and was set to expire on Dec. 10. According to Delaware law, emergency orders can be extended by 60 days just once, which will take the order to Feb. 8.

With no State of Emergency order, masks would need to be made part of permanent regulations by the Board of Education if the requirement were to last further than Feb. 8, per Delaware law. This process would call for public hearings, which could take as long as 45 days.

Gov. Carney’s office also announced Department of Education and Division of Health and Social Services regulations previously proposed in the Register of Regulations will be amended and reposted without the masking requirements. This will remove language in DOE Emergency Order 815, Section 6.0 that originally offered no end date to the state mandate for mask wearing in K-12 and child care centers.

There have been 1,923 youth ages 5 to 11 who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Delaware as of Tuesday at 11:59 p.m., according to the Delaware Division of Public Health’s vaccine tracker. That number is likely higher due to delays in data input from the state’s immunization information system DelVAX.

“The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and now available to everyone ages 5 and older in Delaware. That’s really exciting,” said DPH director Dr. Karyl Rattay in a statement. “We know from the data that this vaccine does a great job protecting children from the COVID-19 virus and serious illness. Getting the COVID vaccine will also keep Delaware children in school, and prevent quarantines in the event of an exposure to the virus.”

A list of vaccination sites is available here.

The state has recorded a total of 2,856 in-person contagious cases of COVID-19 among public school K-12 students this school year — 2% of the estimated 141,040 public school students. An additional 540 cases have been reported among staff.

In-person contagious cases among students declined for the fourth week in a row, according to DPH’s weekly update released on Wednesday.

The data, which has 209 cases for students and also shows 48 cases among staff, was tracked Oct. 30-Nov. 5. It represents 0.15% of public school students — down from 0.19% (274 cases) the previous week.

It is the second-lowest number and percentage since the state began tracking in-person contagious cases in schools Sept. 4. The only week it was lower was the first week, Sept. 4-10, when 130 in-person contagious cases were reported (0.09%).

Private school data is not yet available and will be released when those schools’ enrollment information is available later in the fall, according to DPH.

The data published on the state’s coronavirus website is for all Delaware public schools, including 19 districts and 23 charter schools, which are part of the public school system. Public school enrollment data is preliminary and will be finalized in early November, said DPH.

In-person contagious cases are defined as “persons who were present at school as far back as 48 hours prior to the onset of symptoms (or test date if no symptoms). The source of infection of these cases cannot be attributed to schools, nor is it known that they are the source of infection to others in schools.”