Big Kansas school district mandating masks for youngest kids

 


OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — One of Kansas' largest public school districts plans to require elementary students to wear masks this fall after a health official warned that the faster-spreading delta variant would lead to widespread COVID-19 among unmasked children.

The Shawnee Mission district joins the Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, schools in requiring masks for some students. But Shawnee Mission is the only district to plan on mandating masks among the six in Johnson County, the state's most populous county, The Kansas City Star reports.

Shawnee Mission's board voted 6-1 to require masks in elementary schools but keep them optional for middle and high schools. The district has 26,000 students, making it the third-largest in Kansas behind Wichita and Olathe.

Kansas has seen its average number of new COVID-19 cases a day increase in recent weeks to levels not seen since February as the delta variant has become more prevalent.

Johnson County Epidemiologist Elizabeth Holzschuh warned the board that the delta variant would become widespread in classrooms of unmasked elementary-aged students. The federal government has not authorized any vaccine for children under 12.

"If you take masks away at these school levels, we will see widespread transmission. I am confident of that," Holzchuh said.

 

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