Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is calling on the state’s board of education to rescind its school mask mandate, citing improved COVID-19 case counts and high vaccination rates statewide and the need to “live with this virus, not in fear of it.”

“In recent weeks, Maryland emerged from the Omicron wave faster than just about any state,” Hogan wrote in a letter addressed to the Maryland State Board of Education on Thursday. “We continue to report substantial declines in all of our key COVID-19 health metrics, including the lowest case rate in the country.” Hogan argued that rescinding the mandate was a safe choice, given that Maryland is among the most vaccinated states in the country and school-aged children in the state are vaccinated at a rate above the national average.

In a response to Hogan late Thursday, State Board of Education president Clarence Crawford wrote that the board had already established “research-based off ramps” that would allow local school boards and superintendents to lift the mask requirements on their own. The board said a local board of education can lift the face covering requirements for public meetings if their county population has at least 80% of residents fully vaccinated. In school facilities, Crawford wrote, the local superintendent can lift the mask mandate if 80% of school staff and students are fully vaccinated. In addition, Crawford says, superintendents can lift face covering requirements in schools if the county “has sustained 14 days of moderate or low transmission rate of COVID-19 cases, as reported by the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention].”

These off ramps, Crawford wrote, serve “as a transition to ultimately lifting the face covering requirement” for all schools. The state board of education will meet on Feb. 22 to review the latest health guidance.

“We, too, share your desire not to let this pandemic distract us from aggressively addressing the learning loss and social emotional harm this pandemic has done to our children,” wrote Crawford.

If the state board of education chooses to drop the mask requirement for schools entirely, local school boards could still opt to keep it on their own authority. For example, Montgomery County officials said during a Thursday press briefing that they would wait to make local decisions about masking in schools after the state board makes its decision.

In response to the letter, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said he would have hoped that Hogan would have waited a bit longer to request that that mandate be rescinded.

“[Hogan] should be patient,” said Elrich. “The trends are very good … but we’ve not yet returned to even a moderate level of transmission.” Elrich said he would feel “much more comfortable” if Hogan set a return to moderate transmission of the virus as a benchmark for removing mask mandates in schools.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Hogan said he would honor the ability of county executives and local school boards to make their own decisions regarding masking.

“Our position has been pretty clear for two years, and the law allows these duly elected local governments and school boards and county executives to make their own decisions,” said Hogan.

Hogan also said he did not plan to take the approach of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who issued an executive order rescinding school mask mandates statewide immediately upon taking office, and was met with legal challenges from multiple local school boards, including several in Northern Virginia.

“I don’t see us taking the kind of action that Governor Youngkin did where he is involved in all kinds of lawsuits now with the school boards,” said Hogan. “I don’t think we have the authority to demand that school boards do what I say … but we’re going to certainly weigh in when we think they’re being too aggressive.”

Hogan’s letter comes at a time when officials, public health experts, parents, teachers, and students across the country are divided over the question of masking in schools.

The Centers for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics have both maintained their recommendations that all children and school staff should wear masks. But some health experts have argued that mask mandates could be safely rescinded now, even though future variants and COVID-19 surges might necessitate putting them back on.

In his letter to the state school board, Hogan quoted former Baltimore City Health Commissioner and George Washington University public health expert Leana Wen: “As long as vaccines and boosters continue to protect well among the vaccinated and as long as hospitals are not overwhelmed, restrictions should all be lifted.”

National polling during the surge of the highly contagious omicron variant in January suggested that a majority of the public was supportive of requiring masks in schools — and locally, parents and students have also expressed support for COVID-19 precautions in schools. During January’s intense surge in COVID-19 cases, students across the D.C. region, including in Maryland’s Montgomery County, organized protests demanding that school leaders institute more COVID-19 precautions to stop the spread of the virus in school.

This story has been updated with the state board of education’s response to Hogan’s letter.