Virginia is mandating students and staff at K-12 schools wear face masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday. 

The public health order aligns with updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommends universal masking in school buildings. 

“We all share the same goal of keeping our schools open and keeping our students safe,” Northam said in a statement.

It marks a shift from guidance the state issued last month, which recommended masking indoors at elementary schools and some middle and high schools. That guidance did not require masks but gave school systems authority to develop their own mandates. 

Most school systems in Northern Virginia have already adopted face mask requirements for the start of the 2021-2022 academic year, including Fairfax County Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, and Loudoun County Public Schools.

Maryland state officials are not requiring face masks inside schools, but local school systems, including those in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, have imposed mandates of their own. Schools in the District are also requiring masks.

Face masks, a political flash point during the pandemic, have divided communities in more conservative parts of Virginia.

James Lane, the state superintendent of public instruction, said the order establishes uniformity across the state.

“The vast majority of school districts have chosen to follow the CDC and keep their school communities safe,” Lane said in a statement. “It remains a critical part of our safety protocols.”

Under the order, everyone in a school building 2 and older must wear face masks unless they are eating, exercising, or playing an instrument that requires removing a mask. Exceptions may also be made for religious and health reasons. 

Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren in the Washington region are expected to return to campuses in coming weeks. It is the first time school systems will fully reopen for in-person learning since March 2020. 

Public health experts and educators say it is critical schools provide in-person instruction. But reopening plans have been complicated by the surging Delta variant, a highly transmissible strain of the coronavirus. It has fueled anxieties among some parents, especially among those of young children not yet eligible for a coronavirus vaccine.