The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has implemented even stricter mask rules for school children, now requiring students to wear surgical and other high-grade face coverings over more comfortable cloth masks.
The school district announced that from Monday, “masking will be required at all times, indoors and outdoors,” and children will be required to wear “well-fitting, non-cloth masks with a nose wire.”
Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district, told the Los Angeles Times that though Covid-19 rates in schools had dropped, the district is “continuing to be diligent and agile in creating the safest learning environment.”
Haber also claimed the change in mask rules was guided by California health authorities, who have ranked cloth masks as the “least effective” against Covid-19.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has introduced other strict policies for the Spring season, including weekly Covid-19 testing for students and employees “regardless of vaccination status,” daily health screenings, and the requirement for all children to be fully vaccinated and boosted.
“Vaccinations remain a key element in reducing the impact of COVID-19 on individuals and communities, and will be required for students 12 and older at the start of the Fall 2022 semester,” the district declared, noting that “anyone 5 years or older is eligible for the two-dose Pfizer vaccine” and that “booster shots are available for anyone 12 and older.”
While states and cities with Democrat governments have been largely in favor of masks for school children, several Republican states have banned them outright.
Last week, Virginia’s newly sworn-in Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin rescinded a mandate from his predecessor that required children to wear masks in schools, while some school districts across the US have given parents the opportunity to ‘opt out’ from child mask policies.
The state of Texas has been in a continuous fight to ban school mask policies, battling in court with federal judges who have attempted to reinstate them.
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