Tensions over school mask mandates roil this Mississippi town – By Laura Santhanam (PBS Newshour) / Aug 11 2021
Beatrice Arrivée couldn’t wait to ditch virtual learning and walk into school for her first day of sixth grade — while wearing a mask.
“Nobody likes masking, but I would rather wear a mask than not,” 11-year-old Arrivée said.
Yet that simple back-to-school precaution has become a source of controversy in her community and around the country.
As millions of students prepare to enter the academic year, rates of COVID-19 infection are soaring due to the highly contagious delta variant, and hospitalizations and deaths are making a grim climb upward. That is especially true in parts of the United States with low vaccination rates, such as Mississippi, where 35 percent of residents are fully vaccinated. That state is close to the bottom of the list for COVID vaccinations — neighbor Alabama is currently the least vaccinated state in the nation. Public health experts have urged vaccination rates more than double those seen in much of the South to slow the virus’ spread.
CONTINUE > https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tensions-over-school-mask-mandates-roil-this-mississippi-town
