�������ýҕ�l

An indoor mask mandate takes effect in Boston on Friday, a day after Acting Mayor Kim Janey said COVID-19 cases and positivity rate leveled off during the past week, following a period where such metrics ticked upward as the city battled the Delta variant. “After weeks of increases, we have seen our cases and positivity stabilize during the last week,” said Janey at a Thursday City Hall news conference. Janey said the most recent 7-day average for COVID hospitalizations in the city is 93, well below the 126 average in May when the city reopened and below the city’s threshold of concern. (McDonald, 8/26)

Illinois health care workers and educators from kindergarten through college will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday in announcing new safety protocols that also include a fresh statewide mandate for masks to be worn indoors. The mandates, which overlap in several places with existing rules, are a response to a spike in COVID-19 infections fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, particularly in southern and central Illinois. (Tareen, 8/27)

Whether students and staff should be required to mask up in Pennsylvania schools will remain a local decision, at least for now, after top Republican lawmakers on Thursday rejected Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s call for a statewide mandate. The majority of districts are not requiring masks as students return to class, and just 36% of Pennsylvania residents between the ages of 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated, according to recent federal data. Children under 12 are not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. (Rubinkam, 8/26)

Gov. Spencer Cox said he would issue an executive order allowing local education officials to require masks for students and staff in schools, but school officials told him the issue is now politicized and would be counterproductive, The Salt Lake Tribune has learned. The offer came during a virtual meeting with local health officials, superintendents from around the state, legislative leaders, and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson on Tuesday. Several people involved in the meeting said Cox’s offer was welcomed by health officials, but the superintendents pushed back because of the heated rhetoric and backlash such a move would likely bring. (Schott, 8/25)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that the record-high surge in COVID-19 cases would have led to a statewide mask mandate if that authority still lay with him. Kentucky's Supreme Court recently transferred authority over pandemic-related decisions, including masking, to the GOP-controlled state legislature, according to the Democratic governor. (Chen, 8/26)

The Fort Worth school board adopted a mask mandate defying Gov. Greg Abbott’s order, but an ongoing legal battle complicates when it can be implemented. The district briefly had a mask mandate previously but that was stopped by a local court order issued after a group of parents sued the district. Earlier on Thursday, a judge extended that temporary restraining order until Sept. 3 when Judge John Chupp holds another hearing. Superintendent Kent Scribner said he can only implement the mask mandate once the court order is lifted. In the meantime, Fort Worth will continue with its current protocols which include no mask requirements, he said. (Garcia, 8/26)

A Maryland teacher said she was placed on leave after refusing to comply with a school mask mandate. Angela Harders, a special education teacher at Paint Branch High School, said she was taking a stand against forced masking, The Washington Post reported. “Everyone should have the freedom to choose,” she said in the report Wednesday. (8/26)

The father of two high school students in California says his children are being discriminated against because of their religious beliefs after they refused to wear masks on the first day of school and are now banned from campus. “They were sent home and told not to come back with or without a mask,” said Gary Nelson, whose children, Drew, 17, and Victoria, 16, attend the Springs Charter Schools Temecula Student Center. “If they do, they would be charged with trespassing.” (Planas, 8/26)

Students gathered around the entrance gate outside Fort Lauderdale High School on Wednesday morning as Dan Bauman and his daughter argued with a resource officer over the school’s mask mandate, police records show. Fed up with the daily antics, another student spoke up. “I’ve had enough for four days,” she said, according to an arrest report. Noticing Bauman was recording her, the student reached for his phone. Bauman swiftly grabbed her hand, twisted it and pushed her against the gate, police said. Officers pulled him off the student. Fort Lauderdale police immediately arrested Bauman, who has repeatedly had law enforcement called on him for alleged mask violations, and charged him with child abuse without great bodily harm, according to the arrest report. (Peiser, 8/26)

Several parents are suing Missoula public schools over a mask requirement as the school year in Montana is set to begin amid a new wave of COVID-19 cases. An attorney representing parents of students in Missoula said the requirement is in violation of the state’s constitution, which guarantees individuals the right to make their own medical decisions. (Samuels, 8/27)