LA GRANDE — The Oregon Health Authority’s adoption of permanent rules last month requiring masks to be worn in schools is creating confusion and causing some people to be unduly worried.

Mark Mulvihill, superintendent of the InterMountain Education Service District, whose service area includes Union County, said some people mistakenly assume that the adoption of the permanent rules means students will be required to continue wearing masks after the pandemic is over. Mulvihill said this will be far from the case. OHA intends to rescind the mandate, he said, once the pandemic is over. Mulvihill said the word “permanent” in this case is misleading.

“It is a question of semantics,” he said.

North Powder School District Superintendent Lance Dixon agrees the word adds an element of confusion.

“It is not really permanent. It is only permanent until they repeal it,” he said.

The state adopted permanent rules on Friday, Jan. 28, requiring masks in school settings, replacing a temporary rule that was set to expire. Oregon health and education officials have required masks all school year as one mitigation strategy aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, so that students can stay in school full time.

And while recent policies around contact tracing and COVID-19 exposures have changed, masks will remain required in school settings until the rules are repealed.

As for when that might be, Oregon education officials say it depends on the course of COVID-19.

“The virus sets the timeline,” wrote the Oregon Department of Education’s Ready Schools, Safe Learners resilience manager Kati Moseley in a message to superintendents and school leaders on Jan. 28.

“OHA can rescind the masking requirements if it believes the rule or parts of the rule are no longer necessary to control COVID-19,” wrote OHA officials in response to concerns about what might trigger the repeal of the rules.

Meanwhile, Mulvihill is encouraging people to remain calm.

“Do not overreact,” he said. “By no means will students still be wearing masks when the pandemic is over. Children will not be wearing masks during cold season three years from now.”

Mulvihill said Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order calling for the masking mandate, which went into effect before the school year started, has a sunset date and cannot be renewed. He said the OHA had only two options, to let the executive order expire or to give its rule permanent status. The mask mandate was set to expire Feb. 8.

La Grande School District Superintendent George Mendoza said factors that could lead to the mask mandate being rescinded will involve not only falling infection rates but also stronger systems of support for COVID-19 issues and improving health care systems for the virus.

OHA officials have said COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, transmission data, vaccination rates and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will all play a role in decision-making when it comes to mask requirements.

Dixon believes that as the COVID-19 front improves, the pressure to let school districts decide on mask mandates will increase.

“At some point they are going to be getting a lot of pressure to return to local control,” he said.