Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves apparently does not plan to require unvaccinated students and staff to wear face masks when school starts up for the new school year to avoid further spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

WLBT-TV reported Monday that Reeves’ press secretary said the governor has “no intention of requiring students or staff to wear masks when they’re in school this Fall.”

The reported statement seems to contradict the state’s own health officials and last week’s new guidance by the Centers for Disease Control which indicated unvaccinated students should continue social distancing and wear face masks when indoors.

Late last week, officials with the Mississippi State Department of Health warned vulnerable adults to consider avoiding public interaction with crowds after a more rapidly spreading coronavirus variant has permeated the state.

The CDC issued revised guidance last week sparked Mississippi public health officials to suggest they would mostly follow the federal guidelines.

“We will be updating schools with some Mississippi-specific components of that guidance, that certainly there will be considerations for mask utilization for unvaccinated individuals,” Dr. Paul Byers, MSDH epidemiologist, said.