The indoor masking rule for Hawaii’s regular public schools will continue through at least the summer term, state officials said Wednesday.

And as Hawaii enters the height of graduation and prom season at the same time that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are ticking upward statewide and in the schools for a seventh week in a row, officials are urging people to wear masks and take other precautions for school-related events and other gatherings.

The public schools will be “maintaining what we are doing now” through the summer term, including universal masking indoors, state schools interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi said during a joint news conference with State Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble.

Decisions on all COVID-19 protocols for public schools are made in close consultation with the state Department of Health, Hayashi said.

Kemble confirmed that a decision was reached this week for “continued guidance for masking through summer programs.”

Coronavirus cases in public schools have risen for seven straight weeks since spring break, with 1,053 confirmed and probable cases reported last week across the state’s 257 regular public schools, Hayashi said.

At Molokai Middle School, a spike in cases caused officials to shift classes online for all of this week. Twenty- four cases have been reported since May 2 among Molokai Middle’s 235 students and staff, according the DOE’s COVID-19 dashboard. Just two cases had been reported in all of the previous three months.

It’s the first time since the surge of the COVID-19 omicron variant early this year that any Hawaii public school has had to go virtual, Hayashi said.

School cases statewide at the moment are nowhere near the levels reached during the omicron surge, which peaked at nearly 3,400 school cases reported in the Jan. 17 week and caused high absenteeism among teachers and students.

Still, Hayashi urged people to take masking and other health and safety protocols seriously, as more than 40 public school graduation commencement ceremonies kick off Monday.

The Health Department issued a special-edition COVID-19 cluster report last week regarding recent outbreaks associated with school events — in particular, a high school prom that resulted in coronavirus and influenza infections.

“We have just over two weeks left in this school year, and we want to finish our year strong as we head into summer,” Hayashi said. Preventing community spread is crucial to making sure all graduates get to enjoy in-person celebrations with loved ones that they have earned and deserve, he said.

The DOE guidelines for graduations say: “Masks must be worn at all times for indoor ceremonies. Masks worn indoors may be removed briefly for picture-­taking and mask breaks that follow the Department’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidance for School Year 2021-22 (i.e., the individual taking a masking break must be at least six (6) feet away from others). Extra masks should be made available at the ceremony.”

Other guidelines say schools can limit guests based on venue capacity and rules, and ceremonies must be held outdoors, or can be held in indoor settings with adequate circulation of fresh and/or filtered air.

Hayashi said the DOE has distributed a half-million at-home COVID-19 tests to the schools in the past month, and encouraged students and families to use them before attending any events.

Other DOE graduation rules announced earlier that had required outdoor masking and proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test have been dropped. Two schools that initially barred lei giving reconsidered. The latest version of the DOE guidelines says, “Lei giving is permitted in areas designated by the school.”

Kemble said the Health Department continues to “strongly recommend” masks as part of layered COVID-19 mitigation practices. Indoor masking helps keep students in school for critical in-person learning by reducing spread and allowing quarantine requirements to be relaxed under DOH guidance, she said.

“This is a time for businesses, schools and other organizations to make sure they have COVID-smart policies in place. Requirements to mask indoors at work and school make good sense when community transmission is high,” Kemble said.

More than 26,000 students were enrolled in the DOE’s summer programs in 2021. Education officials are counting on summer programming to help students heal academically and emotionally from the effects of the pandemic.

No decision regarding COVID-19 protocols for the 2022-23 school year has been made yet, Kemble said.

Hawaii’s 37 charter schools, which serve about 12,000 students, are permitted to set their own policies on COVID-19 safety measures. DOH also offers its guidance to private schools, but they can set their own rules.

As cases rise, Kemble said, “this is a time to rethink masking policies if you are making it optional, and think about requiring it.”

Hawaii’s public school system is among the 2% of the 500 largest U.S. school districts continuing mask mandates, according to the school data-tracking platform Burbio. The topic of school masks has been a divisive issue in many mainland districts, and drew hours of most opposing testimony during an unusually contentious state Board of Education meeting May 5.