School districts in Florida and Texas are bucking their Republican governors' bans on requiring masks for children and teachers as coronavirus cases soar in conservative areas with low vaccination rates.
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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has announced a statewide indoor mask requirement due to a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases, warning that the state's health care system could be overwhelmed without further safety measures. (August 11)
Over a hundred anti-mask protesters heckled masked people, including doctors and nurses, on Tuesday in Williamson County, Tennessee, where the school board voted earlier to require masks for elementary students since they are not able to be vaccinated. A video with nearly 1 million views on Twitter shows the crowd yelling at a masked man as he walked to his car. Protesters yelled: "We will find you" and "We know who you are. No more masks."
The Biden administration said Tuesday that school districts across the nation should follow federal masking guidelines, even if that means resisting Republican governors who have enacted measures prohibiting districts from establishing mask mandates.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) will resume a statewide indoor mask mandate for all residents, regardless of their vaccination status, to combat a rise in COVID-19 cases, her office announced Tuesday.The big picture: Oregon is the third state, after Hawaii and Louisiana, to require residents who are fully vaccinated against the virus to wear masks. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.Oregon, which has recorded some of the lowest numbers of cases and deaths from
"You can leave freely, but we will find you," one man yelled at a pro-mask parent as he tried to drive out of the parking lot.
Broward school leaders have until Friday to tell Florida if they intend to comply with state rules on mask mandates that call for an opt-out option for parents who don’t want their kids to wear one.
Eight of the nine members of the board of Florida's second-largest school system voted to keep a mask mandate despite DeSantis' attempts to ban them.
Gov. Abbott has advocated for personal responsibility over mandates, even as hospitals fill with COVID-19 patients.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the vaccine requirement for California teachers and school staff on Wednesday.
(Reuters) -School districts in Florida and Texas are bucking their Republican governors' bans on requiring masks for children and teachers as coronavirus cases soar in conservative areas with low vaccination rates. The Broward County school board in Florida on Tuesday became the latest major district to flout an order by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis outlawing mask requirements in that state, prompting the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-seeks-support-florida-schools-threatened-by-governor-over-masks-2021-08-10, a Democrat, to say it was considering supporting the school districts financially if DeSantis retaliates against them by withholding funds from officials' salaries.
Gov. Greg Abbott appealed for out-of-state help to fight the third wave of COVID-19 in Texas while two more of the state's largest school districts announced mask mandates in defiance of the governor. Abbott's request Monday came as a county-owned hospital in Houston raised tents to accommodate their COVID-19 overflow. Private hospitals in the county already were requiring their staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
One man was caught on video following a person to their car, saying, “You’ll never be allowed in public again."
California will become the first state in the nation to require all teachers and school staff to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday. (Aug. 11)
“... this liberal lunatic that we have up in Frankfort has signed another executive order mandating masks for all students and adults in school,” Science Hill Independent Superintendent Jimmy Dyehouse said in the audio message to parents.
Defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates continued on Wednesday as another Texas school district announced plans to require students to wear face coverings and another county scored a legal victory in its efforts to issue such mandates amid a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations throughout the state. School districts in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Fort Worth have also issued mask mandates. The superintendent of Houston’s school district, the state’s largest, planned to ask his school board to approve a mask mandate during a Thursday meeting.
(Reuters) -California on Wednesday became the first U.S. state to require that its teachers and other school staff be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19, a move Governor Gavin Newsom called "a responsible step" to ensure the safety of children. The move comes as Texas Governor Greg Abbott's statewide ban on mask mandates hit its second legal setback after a judge in Dallas County temporarily blocked it from being enforced amid a nationwide rise in coronavirus cases. Abbott and fellow Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida have faced defiance https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-texas-schools-defy-governors-bans-mask-mandates-covid-cases-soar-2021-08-10 over their statewide orders that prevent local officials from deciding whether to require that masks be worn.
Our priorities are backward. Children under 12 shouldn't have to mask up to protect themselves from eligible adults and teens who aren't vaccinated.
Texas judges cleared the way for school districts to have mask mandates for now, even though the state has tried to block schools from enacting their own mask rules.
A South Florida school district is digging in its heels after Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened to defund school boards that implement mask mandates for students, arguing that the spread of the delta variant necessitates strict protocols.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned the hundreds of ventilators the U.S. Department of Health and Human services is sending to Florida and said the White House is not at war with Gov. Ron DeSantis, but rather at war with the coronavirus.
