Fort Riley, KS- Fort Riley’s Acting senior commander, Brig. Gen. Frank Stanco published a policy to troops to align with the CDC and the U.S. Department of Defense guidance, requiring continuous facemask wear on Fort Riley while indoors both public buildings and military workspaces whenever the community level is high or substantial.
Some exceptions include when an individual is alone in an office with floor-to-ceiling walls, brief periods when eating and drinking while still maintaining social distance, when the mask is required to be lowered for identification purposes, and to accommodate an individual with a disability.
He further writes in his policy that if COVID-19 levels were to drop to medium or low, vaccinated individuals are no longer required to wear masks indoors, however unvaccinated individuals would be required to wear masks while indoors at the Fort Riley installation. Vaccinated individuals wouldn’t have to wear a mask outdoors, but those that aren’t vaccinated are required to wear a mask if they are unable to socially distance themselves from others.
As of March 14th, the community level at Fort Riley is medium, so this policy will only take effect when the COVID-19 levels are high. For more information on the COVID-19 community level, visit the Fort Riley website.
The Fort Riley COVID SOP has information on exceptions to this policy including medical facilities and CYS buildings where masks will remain mandatory.
This policy left many parents of students that attend school on post confused because they fall under USD 475, which doesn’t require masks for students. However, upon reaching out to Fort Riley officials, Kirk Hutchinson, Public Affairs Specialist stated, “As of now, we don’t have a definitive answer on the school district’s actions for Fort Riley schools, as USD 475 is on spring break. We’ll let USD 475 make any announcements about schools.”
The punitive order and standard operating procedure document are both available at https://home.army.mil/…/all…/coronavirus-information
More information is available at https://home.army.mil/…/all…/coronavirus-information
Janet Schnell covers state and local news for KFRM and KCLY. You can follow the KCLY or KFRM Facebook page for more stories.
KFRM covers news from across the state of Kansas, the Northern part of Oklahoma, and Southern part of Nebraska.
KCLY coverage area includes the nine counties of Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Marshall, Ottawa, Riley, Republic, and Washington.
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