Hamilton County Schools asks everyone to wear masks, including those who opted out

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. — Put the masks on at school.

That's the message in a video posted Wednesday morning from Hamilton County Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Nakia Towns.

Saying we're "at a difficult moment in the pandemic," Dr. Towns cites rising COVID-19 case rates among Hamilton County Schools students as the reason she is asking everyone to wear masks in Hamilton County Schools, regardless of whether parents have chosen for their student to opt-out of the current mask policy announced earlier this month.

Dr. Towns says on Wednesday at the time she recorded her message, 55 new student cases were reported across the school district.

They've reported 596 cases since school started, and the month of August isn't over yet. Track data for Hamilton County Schools COVID-19 cases here.

From Tuesday: New numbers: Hamilton Co. Schools student cases for August highest ever in the pandemic

According to the district, last week the overall opt out rate of student masking was 14.5 percent. Dr. Towns says even though some students have opted out, she urges everyone to mask up:

"Though parents have a choice in the masking decision for your child, I am asking you to make a choice that will help keep our students safe and on campus and that choice is for your child to wear a mask until the spread slows," Dr. Towns says in the video.

Watch the video below:

This is a developing story and will be updated soon.