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U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, sent a letter to Gov. Tate Reeves Friday asking him to issue a statewide mask mandate in light of the state's continued rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. "I implore you, as governor, to do more to address this dire situation," Thompson wrote. Thompson, representing Mississippi's Second Congressional District, asked Reeves to require all Mississippians to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status, for indoor settings and at schools. More than 20,000 Mississippi school children have been quarantined because of COVID-19 exposure and record numbers of children infected with COVID-19 are being treated in hospitals. (Sanderlin, 8/23)

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers said Monday his Republican colleagues are unlikely to vote for any kind of blanket mask mandate should they be called into a special session by Gov. Andy Beshear, but may approve "targeted" measures. The governor indicated through a spokeswoman Saturday he was considering a special session following a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that day that found a lower court wrongly halted legislation limiting his emergency powers to enact COVID-19 restrictions. (Sonka, 8/23)

Florida’s power struggle over wearing masks in school to guard against coronavirus infections landed Monday before a judge considering a lawsuit that challenges Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order reserving the mask decision for parents. The three-day hearing before Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper pits pro-mask parents against the Republican governor and state education officials who say parents, not schools, should choose whether their children cover up inside schools. (Anderson and Spencer, 8/24)

Leon County’s school district announced Sunday that students in prekindergarten through eighth grade will be required to wear masks for COVID-19 protection with only medical exemptions. The policy change would be in violation of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order on masks and rules enacted to enforce the order by the state Department of Health and Board of Education. The state rules require parents to decide whether their children wear masks in school. (Mayer, 8/23)

A group of Utah parents is suing the state for its ban on school districts enacting their own mask mandates — which they say leaves kids “unnecessarily unprotected and at-risk” from COVID-19 in the classroom. In the lawsuit filed Monday, the parents call on a judge to immediately strike down the ban. They fear that, with most Utah schools now open for the fall, the virus will spread quickly among unmasked and unvaccinated students, especially those at higher risk for serious illness. “At the root of this is that I’m a scared mom without any other options at this point,” said Ashley Weitz, who is a plaintiff in the case. (Tanner, 8/23)

As children head back to the classroom, a "vocal minority" in the U.S. have resorted to violence or disruptive measures to protest against mask mandates in schools. While the majority of Americans support the mandates, per a recent Axios/Ipsos poll, back-to-school confrontations across the U.S. have gotten so hot that teachers and other officials have been punched, hit and screamed at. (Saric, 8/23)