Mandates for children in schools are starting to become one of the major battlegrounds for the Chinese coronavirus fight across the country.
The Hill reported that school districts in Florida, Arizona, and Texas are fighting with their respective Republican governors over their refusals to allow masks to be mandated in schools, as parents in Georgia are filing a lawsuit against the state’s largest school district to reverse a mask mandate.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said that his administration will not be mandating schools to require children to wear masks when they return to the classroom, saying that “we want kids to be able to be kids. We need them to be able to breathe. It’s terribly uncomfortable for them to do it. There’s not very much science behind it.”
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R)’s office took aim at the parents and school boards. KJZZ reported that a spokesman from his office said, “They should spend less time on virtue signaling, encouraging students to break the law, and more time on encouraging people to get the vaccine.” The spokesman said this referring to the Arizona school districts telling faculty and students they are required to wear a mask when indoors and on campus.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), in a fight with local authorities over the mask mandates, issued an executive order to prohibit any business, school, or government office from instituting a mask mandate, saying they “will be taken to court.” This is in response to a Dallas County Judge who ordered schools and businesses in Dallas County to require masks inside.
California was the first state to mandate all teachers and staff to get vaccinated or submit to weekly Chinese coronavirus testing, while schools are set to return from summer break. However, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is telling students, vaccinated and unvaccinated, need to submit themselves to weekly testing to return to school:
All students and employees, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, returning for in-person instruction must participate in baseline and ongoing weekly [Chinese coronavirus] testing. This is in accordance with the most recent guidance from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Baseline testing begins on Monday, August 2.
National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the United States, recently announced that it supports Chinese coronavirus vaccine and testing mandates to “ensure that students and educators can enjoy safe, uninterrupted, in-person education.” The union said that roughly 90 percent of NEA’s three million teachers, faculty, education professionals, and school administrators have already been fully vaccinated. However, it still feels the need to mandate vaccines.
President Joe Biden’s Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said that he is for the idea of mandating the vaccine for the Chinese coronavirus for teachers in schools across the country, even though the vaccines are still not fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). During a National Press Foundation event, he reportedly said he “would favor the vaccine being required” and that the vaccine getting full FDA approval would help “reluctant adults” change their minds.
The vaccine is still not available for children under 12. So, experts are saying, “the best way to keep them safe in schools is to use all the tools available; physical distancing, masks, ventilation and vaccines for everyone else who is eligible,” the Hill reported.
Follow Jacob Bliss on Twitter @jacobmbliss.
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