Education Secretary Cardona on School Mask Mandates: ‘We’re Talking About Protecting Students — This Shouldn’t Be Hard’

President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Friday addressed the pushback and bans on mask mandates in schools despite vaccination status.

Cardona, who has warned of the danger students face without wearing masks, doubled down on calling for masks in schools. He emphasized the measure is “about protecting students.”

“First of all, across the country, there’s that back-to-school feeling. Our educators, our students, our parents, we’re excited. This is an exciting time of the year. There’s a vibe about it, and we’re excited about it. But in those places where we see community spread is really high, we need to make sure we’re following the mitigation strategies that protect students. We’re talking about protecting students. This shouldn’t be hard,” Cardona argued on CBS’s “This Morning.” “We want to protect our students and staff and make sure that they can go back to school and enjoy in-person learning and not have their education disrupted again because of the decisions that are being made that go against what we know is best.”

“We can do it for our students. They deserve it. They’ve been waiting. You know, they’ve had disrupted learning. We owe it to our students to get them in their schools safely. We owe it to our educators. We keep thanking educators. Well, let’s show them that we appreciate them by keeping them safe,” he added.

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