Masks are now optional at Head Start programs.

Young children in the federally-funded early education programs will no longer have to mask.

Update (August 13, 2022):

I came across a tweet this morning with some good news for children participating in Head Start programs.

Head Start provides federally-funded child care and early education programs for low-income families and, until recently, maintained a mask mandate for all participants. This meant that toddlers attending Head Start programs still had to mask, despite the WHO, UNICEF, and ECDC recommending against masking children under 5 and some countries even banning the practice in their early childhood facilities.

Now, though, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site devoted to “Face Masks in Head Start Programs” has been recently updated to say masks “can be worn by children 2 years and older” instead of “must” (emphasis mine).