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Some health and education officials attribute the continued need for school masks to the highly transmissible Delta variant, reluctance to immunize, and a limited share of vaccinated students from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Still, schools and states may face an uphill battle in implementing the new guidelines, given marked political divisions over classroom virus safety measures and state bans on mandates. school masks.
State of misfortunes: The new CDC guidelines are more in line with those from the American Academy of Pediatrics, a leading organization that countered earlier federal guidelines last week by pushing schools to adopt universal mask policies for workers and students in more than 2 years before the new school year.
“Next week we have a lot of school systems starting up across the country,” Walensky said. “I think we all agree that children [age] 11 and under will not be able to be vaccinated, and with only 30 percent of our children between the ages of 12 and 17 fully vaccinated now, more cases in this country, and a real effort to try to make sure our children can get it. safely back to full in-person learning in the fall, we recommend everyone to wear masks now. “
But in Texas, for example, Democrats are pressuring Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to overturn his ban on school mask requirements and allow schools to have virtual learning this fall.
“Children under the age of twelve cannot receive a COVID vaccine, which means they are vectors of infection for each other, their teachers and their family members,” the state official said. from Texas Vikki Goodwin and over 30 colleagues written last week in a letter to Abbott and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath. “Putting them all in one building without masks is stupid.”
And while Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey recently urged residents of his state to get vaccinated, he also suggested the government would not reconsider its recently approved school face covering bans. and vaccination requirements.
“Arizonans have the ability to protect themselves from COVID-19 with the vaccine. Businesses are open, students are back in class, their loved ones are coming together and our economy is booming, ”Ducey said last week. “We will continue like this. We will not listen to the containment lobby. The shops will remain open. Students will be able to attend school. There will be no mask warrant. “
Union reaction: “To make sure we have safe and fair in-person education for every student in America, we need to follow the science and listen to the medical experts at the CDC,” National Education Association president Becky Pringle said in a statement. . “The evidence is clear that masks provide important protection against Covid-19 and provide the best protection for all of us. ”
The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, meanwhile pointed to a “worrying wave” of variant cases in under-vaccinated communities, as well as the possibility that vaccinated people are still infected and spread the virus even if they are. are much more likely to escape serious illness. .
“Masking inside schools, regardless of vaccination status, is an important way to deal with the changing realities of virus transmission,” Weingarten said. “This is a necessary precaution until children under 12 can receive a Covid vaccine and more Americans over 12 are vaccinated.”
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