(AUSTIN, Texas) — All residents and businesses of Texas’ capital city are still being advised to boil tap water before consuming it after a staff error caused the temporary shutdown of the city’s largest treatment plant.
The precautionary citywide boil notice was issued Saturday by the utility Austin Waters due to high turbidity, or cloudiness, detected in the water at its Ullrich Water Treatment Plant.
“We all need to do our part when something like this happens, and we will. We can also be frustrated, as I am, that there’s yet another situation to deal with,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said in a statement.
The boil notice will be over once water samples show no quality issues and The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lifts the notice. Sampling began Monday and it takes 24 hours to receive the results, according to Austin Water.
“We can be thankful, too, that the situation was noticed quickly and steps taken, any public health risk is very, very small, and we’re much better prepared right now with equipment and supplies as we open water distribution stations. It appears this will be over in a couple of days, and the city will keep everyone informed along the way,” Adler said.
Turbidity, according to Austin Water, can create an area where disease-causing organisms can live; the symptoms of which can include nausea, diarrhea and headaches.
“These symptoms can be particularly severe in people who are not as resistant to infections as most of the population,” the utility said in a release.
If you experience symptoms, the city said you should consult your doctor.
Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros said the turbidity spike was low and that no water contamination was reported, according to ABC News Austin affiliate KVUE-TV.
“We have no indication that there’s a contamination,” Meszaros said Saturday at a press conference. “This was a very short-term event, internal process water, very low risk, but regulations are regulations and we have to do this boil water notice.”
Water distribution sites are available at various sites throughout the city, including at the Glen Bell Service Center and North Service Center. Customers must bring an empty water container.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated Alabama’s new GOP-drawn congressional map over the objection of civil rights groups and decisions of two lower courts finding that it dilutes the influence of Black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
The vote to temporarily stay a lower court order blocking the map was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s three liberals in dissent.
The decision means Alabama will not immediately have to redraw its political lines to include a second majority-Black district, as had been ordered by a District Court judge, allowing the original maps to take effect for midterm elections.
At the same time, the Supreme Court’s majority said it would take up the Alabama redistricting case on the merits later this year.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a statement concurring with the decision, argued that the court should stay out of the political process so close to an election, insisting the decision makes “no new law regarding the Voting Rights Act” and simply allows time for a full briefing and oral argument.
“To reiterate: The Court’s stay order is not a decision on the merits,” he said.
The court’s liberals, however, weren’t buying it.
Justice Elena Kagan, in a pointed dissent, accused her colleagues of going “badly wrong” and forcing “Black Alabamians to suffer what under that law is clear vote dilution.”
“That decision does a disservice to our own appellate processes, which serve both to constrain and to legitimate the Court’s authority. It does a disservice to the District Court, which meticulously applied this Court’s longstanding voting-rights precedent,” Kagan wrote. “And most of all, it does a disservice to Black Alabamians who under that precedent have had their electoral power diminished—in violation of a law this Court once knew to buttress all of American democracy.”
Roberts also wrote in dissent that he would have allowed the District Court’s order to stand given that its analysis of the case in his view “seems correct.”
“We are disappointed by today’s decision. The fight for fair representation for Black voters in Alabama has been a winding road, generations long,” said Evan Milligan, an Alabama voter who helped bring the legal challenge to the state’s new map. “We won’t dishonor their legacy by putting down the torch they have handed to us. We will continue striving to ensure that our legislature honors the Voting Rights Act and that Black Alabamians have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.”
In a highly fact-intensive review, the lower court concluded Alabama’s maps likely violated the Voting Rights Act by depriving Black voters of influence. Section 2 of the landmark civil rights law makes it illegal to deny minority voters equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.
Just over a quarter of Alabama voters are Black, according to Census data, but under the proposed maps the state would have just one majority-Black district out of seven. The appeals court panel said an additional Black-majority district needed to be added.
“Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress,” the panel wrote.
All three judges were appointed by Republican presidents — two by former President Donald Trump, one by former President Ronald Reagan.
Alabama is appealing the decision, saying it would force the state to draw lines based solely on race and at a “late hour” ahead of midterms, creating voter chaos. Republicans allege the claims are less about racial representation than they are about Democrats trying to take back power.
Experts say the Supreme Court’s reasoning in the case, after it’s argued and decided on the merits, could potentially have a sweeping impact, serving as the basis for challenges to maps in California, Texas, New York, North Carolina and other states where maps face similar objections from minority voters.
(NEW YORK) — Even in the face of mounting backlash, streaming giant Spotify is standing by embattled podcast host Joe Rogan.
While the controversy initially centered around the spread of COVID-19 misinformation emanating from Rogan’s namesake podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” a viral video of the host using a racial slur dozens of times has intensified calls for action in recent days. The video was posted by Grammy award-winning musician India.Arie, who said she was joining fellow musicians in seeking to remove her music from Spotify because of Rogan. Spotify made headlines back in 2020 for reportedly licensing a $100 million deal to exclusively host Rogan’s often controversial digital talk show.
In the wake of the ever-evolving saga and immense social media backlash against Rogan, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek apologized to staffers in a memo Sunday obtained by ABC News. Ek said Rogan chose to remove several episodes from Spotify, but made clear that: “I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.”
“There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way The Joe Rogan Experience controversy continues to impact each of you,” Ek wrote. “Not only are some of Joe Rogan’s comments incredibly hurtful — I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company. I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard.”
Ek said Spotify has had conversations with Rogan and his team about his “history of using some racially insensitive language,” and that Rogan made the choice to remove some past episodes from the streaming platform.
“While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more,” Ek added. “And I want to make one point very clear — I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope.”
Ek said that one of the company’s core values is having an open platform, and because of this, they “must also believe in elevating all types of creators, including those from underrepresented communities and a diversity of backgrounds.”
The chief executive also said the company is committing to an “incremental investment of $100 million” for the licensing, development and marketing of music and audio content from historically marginalized groups.
“While some might want us to pursue a different path, I believe that more speech on more issues can be highly effective in improving the status quo and enhancing the conversation altogether,” Ek wrote.
In a video posted to Instagram on Saturday, Rogan said his past use of racial slurs is “the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.” He said the video compilation of him using a certain racial slur is “made of clips taken out of context” from 12 years of conversations on his podcast.
“Now I know that to most people, there’s no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that,” Rogan said. He added that he hasn’t used the racial slur “in years” and “never used it to be racist,” though he acknowledged that “I clearly have f—– up.”
“I can’t go back in time and change what I’ve said, I wish I could, obviously that’s not possible,” Rogan added. “But I do hope that this can be a teachable moment. For anybody that doesn’t realize how offensive that word can be coming out of a white person’s mouth, in context or out of context.”
Spotify previously responded to backlash over Rogan’s COVID-19 misinformation last week by saying it will add a “content advisory” label to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19 and directs listeners to its “COVID-19 Hub” for up-to-date information on the virus as shared by public health authorities. Rogan also promised to add more guests with “differing opinions.”
While Spotify has managed to avoid the same level of scrutiny as fellow tech giants such as Facebook and Twitter for years, the firestorm of controversy surrounding Rogan has put the streaming giant at the center of a renewed public debate over the platform companies give to characters like Rogan.
(NEW YORK) — Several states across the country are considering lifting mask mandates in schools in an attempt to return to some semblance of normalcy.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Delaware Gov. John Carney announced Monday that mask mandates in schools will come to an end in March. Illinois school districts will be deciding whether or not to make masks optional after a judge ruled against the state’s mandate.
Additionally, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order last month allowing parents to choose whether their child will wear a mask in schools, although it was temporarily halted by a judge Friday.
Experts say it is too soon to end mask mandates in schools because vaccination rates are not high enough yet among the school-age population and new cases are still being reported.
“It is not safe at this time for schools to rescind mask mandates [because] even though we do have decent levels of vaccination in the older age groups, as populations get younger, the proportion who are vaccinated gets lower,” Dr. Mercedes Carnethon, vice chair of the department of preventive medicine and a professor of epidemiology and pulmonary and critical care at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told ABC News.
Currently, 22.6% of Americans ages 5 to 11 and 56.4% of those ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The proportion of parents who have chosen vaccination for their children is very low and we know that masking works to stop the spread of the coronavirus,” Carnethon said. “Rescinding those mandates where children 5 and up spend their days, I believe we will see rapid spread.”
Proponents of mask mandates say COVID-19 is not an endemic disease yet and lifting mandates will trigger a major rise in cases.
In Wyoming, Laramie County School District 1 — located in the capital of Cheyenne — reported a spike in cases just two weeks after the Board of Trustees voted to end the mask mandate.
First reported by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, nearly 400 students and 100 staff have tested positive between Jan. 24 and Feb. 4, an ABC analysis of school district data shows.
Similarly, Hopkinton High School in Massachusetts was the first public school in the state to drop masks altogether but reinstituted the mandate after a rise in cases.
Murphy said a drop in COVID-19 infections linked to the omicron variant led him to lift the mask mandate.
“Balancing public health with getting back to some semblance of normalcy is not easy,” Murphy tweeted. “But we can responsibly take this step due to declining COVID numbers and growth in vaccinations.”
Dr. Stanley Weiss, a professor of biostatistics & epidemiology at Rutgers School of Public Health, called it a politically motivated decision.
“Gov. Murphy’s decision is a politically-based one because there is tremendous pressure coming upon everyone to get rid of the pandemic and stop talking about it and stop dealing with it because we’re all tired of this pandemic,” he told ABC News. “It is not scientifically based and I don’t think it is a rational approach based upon what we’re still seeing.”
According to Patch New Jersey, in-school transmission in the state has increased over the past month.
Between Jan. 4 and Jan. 10, there were 11 cases among students and 17 cases among staff. However, between Jan. 25 and Jan. 31, there were 398 cases among students and 57 among staff.
“I have problems with the change in policy,” Weiss said. “Yes, it’s a limited number of cases, but if you look over time, the new outbreaks have been continuing to increase in schools. The number of student cases and staff cases has not declined. It hasn’t gone away.”
In Illinois, some districts have already made mandates optional after a judge ruled school districts statewide cannot require students to wear masks in classrooms.
“If data were driving these decisions, we wouldn’t at all remove mask mandates right now,” said Carnethon. “The school districts in the regions of Illinois that are making this optional appear to be closely aligned with the geopolitical sentiment.”
Carnethon said districts where schools mask mandates are being removed are typically ones with limited testing ability and “limited enthusiasm” for policies such as requiring vaccinations in public spaces.
“These communities continue to be high-district transmission communities. These are the very decisions that are going to prolong the pandemic and lead to far more suffering than we need to have happen,” she said.
Those in favor of ending the mandates in schools say the public health focus needs to shift to learning to live with COVID-19 and more attention should be given to individual choice.
An increase in cases isn’t necessarily a bad thing due to children’s low risk of severe illness, according to some experts. Others, like Dr. Julia Raifman, disagree.
“I think cases are a problem,” Raifman, an assistant professor of health law, policy and management at Boston University School of Public Health who researches state-level policy responses to the pandemic, told ABC News.
She continued, “Cases are a problem because more cases do mean more hospitalizations and deaths. There’s no way around that. More cases mean more missed work and more missed school. More cases mean more people with lingering symptoms. More cases mean more of the unknown health impacts 10 years later.”
Raifman added that school mask mandates should not disappear completely and that one way to keep them in place is to have more outdoor class time for kids because masks are not recommended for outdoors and students and teachers could take a break from wearing face coverings.
She gave the example of Nevada, which has a policy that enacts mask mandates when cases in a county are high.
“If people are really eager for them to end, I recommend that they not end them, that they put in place a data-driven approach that turns on the mask policies when we need them when there are big surges,” Raifman said.
(SEATTLE) — One person was killed and at least one was injured during a shooting at a Washington state grocery store Monday, authorities said.
The suspect, who is believed to have a handgun, is still at large following the shooting at a Fred Meyer store in Richland, Washington, police told reporters.
ATF agents are heading to the scene, the agency said.
Richland is located about 200 miles southeast of Seattle.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A Minneapolis city council committee will hold a hearing on no-knock warrants Monday afternoon following the death of Amir Locke, who was fatally shot in an apartment by Minneapolis police officers last Wednesday during the execution of a no-knock warrant.
Activists and Locke family attorneys will likely be in attendance to discuss banning these type of warrants.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey issued a moratorium on no-knock warrants late Friday in response to the fatal incident.
“No matter what information comes to light, it won’t change the fact that Amir Locke’s life was cut short,” Frey said in a statement. “To ensure safety of both the public and officers until a new policy is crafted, I’m issuing a moratorium on both the request and execution of such warrants in Minneapolis.”
However, officials may execute a no-knock warrant under the moratorium if it is determined that there is an imminent threat of harm to an individual or the public. The chief must approve the warrant in those cases, according to the mayor.
Frey will talk with the experts who helped shape Breonna’s Law to review and suggest revisions to the department’s policy. The law, issued in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020, banned no-knock warrants following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
Minneapolis Police Department updated its policy in November 2020, limiting no-knock warrants to “exigent” cases.
Minneapolis police officers are required to announce their presence and purpose before entering a home, except for when announcing the officers’ presence would create an imminent threat.
In those cases, a supervisor can authorize officers to enter without announcing their presence. Supervisors are required to provide evidence to support that decision before it is signed and approved by the judge.
“This is about proactive policymaking and instilling accountability,” Frey said in a statement announcing the new policy. “We can’t prevent every tragedy, but we can limit the likelihood of bad outcomes. This new, no-knock warrant policy will set shared expectations for our community and clear and objective standards within the department.”
In a Friday press conference regarding Locke’s death, acting Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman said that “both a no-knock and a knock search warrant were obtained … so that the SWAT team could assess the circumstances and make the best possible decision” in the Locke case.
Body camera footage released Thursday shows officers executing a no-knock search warrant before coming across 22-year-old Locke, who had been sleeping under a blanket on the couch in the apartment that the warrant was issued for.
He is seen holding a gun as he begins to sit up, still covered with the blanket before he is shot less than 10 seconds after officers entered the room.
Huffman said that when officers saw the gun, “That’s the moment when the officer had to make a split second decision to assess the circumstances and determine whether he felt like there was an articulable threat.”
Locke was not named in the no-knock warrant, according to family attorney Ben Crump said at the press conference. The warrant was being executed on behalf of St. Paul police, who were searching for a homicide suspect.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has ruled Locke’s death a homicide.
The officer who shot and killed Locke was identified by police as Mark Hanneman. In accordance with policy, he’s been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation into the incident. It is unclear if Hanneman has legal representation.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will work with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to review Locke’s death, the office said in a press release Friday.
Locke’s killing prompted protests demanding justice in his killing. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted, “Who’s down with the revolution? We’re down with the revolution!” and “No justice, no peace,” while marching toward the police precinct on Saturday.
A caravan of cars also pulled up to what ABC affiliate KSTP-TV reported could be Huffman’s home. Protesters got out of their cars in front of the home, chanting and banging drums.
(TRUCKEE, Calif.) — A desperate search was on in Northern California for one of six ice skaters who fell through the melting surface of a frozen-over reservoir as the temperature soared well above freezing, authorities said.
Disaster struck Saturday afternoon at the Stampede Meadows Reservoir near Truckee in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when the ice broke under the weight of a group of ice skaters, according to a statement from the Truckee Fire Protection District.
Five of the skaters managed to pull themselves from the frigid water, but one person failed to emerge, fire officials said.
As a dive team from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office responded to assist in the search, fire officials cautioned people to stay off the iced-over reservoir and lakes and ponds in the area about 16 miles north of Lake Tahoe.
“It is impossible to know the safety and stability of the ice, especially with the recent warmer temperatures,” the Truckee Fire Protection District said in its statement.
Temperatures in the Truckee-Lake Tahoe area climbed into the mid-40s on Saturday from a low of about 12, according to the National Weather Service.
The incident occurred a week after the fire protection district firefighters conducted surface ice rescue training and sent out a warning on Facebook of the dangers of people and their pets venturing out on the area’s frozen waterways.
Meanwhile, some Southern California residents were being warned of escalating winter wildfire danger as strong Santa Ana winds kick up and temperatures climb into the unseasonably warm upper 80s.
Moderate to locally strong Santa Ana winds are forecast for Sunday night and into Monday across Ventura and Los Angeles counties in Southern California, according to ABC News meteorologists. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph were expected for the region, with isolated gusts up to 60 mph.
Blowing dust is also expected to reduce visibility across the region, and downed power lines and tree limbs are possible with the strongest gusts.
Another round of Santa Ana winds is likely on Wednesday and into Thursday, coupled with unseasonably warm temperatures. Record high temperatures in the mid-70s and upper 80s are possible for parts of Southern California on Thursday.
Burbank, California, is forecast to reach 86 degrees, coming within two degrees of the record of 87 degrees set in 1939.
(PORT CLINTON, Ohio) — More than a dozen people were rescued in Lake Erie after a sheet of ice broke away while they were riding snowmobiles, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard and a good Samaritan saved 18 people off the coast of Catawba Island in Ohio after the ice floe broke away, the agency said. All of the rescued were on ATVs and snowmobiles, according to the Coast Guard.
Rescue efforts started at about 1 p.m. after a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Detroit noticed people stuck on the ice.
Seven people were rescued by helicopter, while four were rescued by a Coast Guard airboat. Seven others were rescued by a good Samaritan who arrived at the scene with an airboat.
No one required medical attention once they were brought back to shore, the Coast Guard said.
Officials warned people seeking recreation on the ice “to take precautions, not chances” by dressing appropriately for the water temperature, not the air temperature; wearing a life jacket; carrying a reliable form of communication; and carrying icepicks or screwdrivers that can help them self-rescue if they go through the ice.
“There’s no such thing as safe ice, but people can mitigate their risks,” Lt. Jeremiah Schiessel of the Coast Guard Sector Detroit said in a statement. “Always be sure to tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be back. Great Lakes ice is unpredictable, and conditions can change fast.”
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 902,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 07, 11:54 am
New Jersey governor to end mask mandate for schools
New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy announced Monday that the state’s requirement to wear face masks in schools will end on March 7.
“Balancing public health with getting back to some semblance of normalcy is not easy. But we can responsibly take this step due to declining COVID numbers and growth in vaccinations,” Murphy tweeted.
Murphy, a Democrat, has imposed some of the strictest pandemic-related mandates in the country. New Jersey, an early hot spot for COVID-19 cases, has lost more than 31,000 residents to the virus.
This move follows a decision last month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, to rescind his state’s mask mandate for schools.
Meanwhile, the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they are reevaluating school mask mandates set to expire later this month.
Feb 07, 11:47 am
All states reporting declining or stable new case rates
After months of rising cases due to the omicron surge, every state in the U.S. is now reporting declining or stable new case rates, according to federal data.
Less than one month ago, the U.S. was averaging more than 800,000 new cases per day. Now that average has plummeted to just over 313,000 new cases per day — a 61% drop since the nation’s peak in mid-January and a 56% drop in the last two weeks.
Even so, the U.S. still reported nearly 2.2 million new COVID-19 cases last week; the nation’s daily case average remains higher than during any other wave of the pandemic.
Hospitalizations are also falling. About 14,000 Americans are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 each day — down by more than 23% in the last week, according to federal data.
Deaths, however, remain very high, with 16,800 Americans dying from COVID-19 over the last week. Deaths are a lagging indicator and usually take a few weeks to dip after the country sees a decline in cases and hospitalizations.
Feb 07, 9:42 am
Delaware to end universal indoor mask mandate
Delaware will lift its universal mask mandate on Friday morning after an improvement in cases and hospitalizations, Gov. John Carney said.
“We’re in a much better place than we were several weeks ago,” Carney said in a statement Monday. “I want to be clear about this point — COVID is still circulating in our communities. And the virus still poses a risk of serious illness, particularly among those who are not up to date on their vaccinations. But we have the tools to keep ourselves and each other safe.”
The mask requirement for Delaware schools was extended and is now set to expire on March 31.
Feb 07, 8:09 am
New Jersey governor to end mask mandate for schools
New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy is expected to announce Monday that the state’s requirement to wear face masks in schools will end the second week of March.
Murphy, a Democrat, has imposed some of the strictest pandemic-related mandates in the United States. The move would follow a decision last month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, to rescind his state’s mask mandate for schools.
Meanwhile, the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they are reevaluating school mask mandates set to expire later this month.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Feb 07, 5:48 am
Ottawa declares state of emergency over trucker-led protests
Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency on Sunday because of trucker-led protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic-related restrictions.
The move by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson “reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government,” according to a statement from the city.
“It also provides greater flexibility within the municipal administration to enable the City of Ottawa to manage business continuity for essential services for its residents and enables a more flexible procurement process, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders,” the city said.
Seven people were arrested in Ottawa on Sunday due to enforcement measures around the demonstration, according to a press release from the Ottawa Police Service.
“There are over 60 criminal investigations so far related to the demonstration,” police said. “They are primarily for mischief, thefts, hate crimes and property damage.”
Sunday marked the 10th straight day of the so-called “freedom convoy” protests, which began with truckers critical of a new rule that they must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to cross the United States-Canada border. The demonstrations have since grown into broader challenges to pandemic-related public health measures and opposition to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Thousands of protesters have occupied the streets of Ottawa and other cities across Canada in support of the movement, paralyzing the capital’s city center with traffic jams, nonstop noise and complaints of harassment. Protesters have said they won’t leave until all COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions are lifted nationwide. They are also calling for the removal of Trudeau’s government, even though most of the public health measures were put in place by provincial governments.
(NEW YORK) — As new cases of COVID-19 decline across the country for the first time in weeks, the debate over face masks for kids is reaching a fever pitch.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who has imposed some of the strictest pandemic-related mandates in the United States, is expected to announce Monday that the state’s requirements for masks in schools will end the second week of March. The move would follow a decision last month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, to rescind his state’s mask mandate for schools.
More than one dozen states and Washington, D.C., currently require face masks in schools, while the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they are reevaluating school mask mandates set to expire later this month. Other states, like Texas and Virginia, have banned mandates, according to an analysis by Education Week, an education-focused news organization.
In Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order allows families to opt their children out of mask requirements at school, at least seven school districts have filed a lawsuit against the order.
Last week, in Loudoun County, Virginia, where the district’s school board voted last month to keep its mask mandate, 29 students were suspended for not wearing face masks. Three families are currently suing the district’s school board over its enforcement of the mask mandate despite the governor’s order.
The mask debate has also moved to the courtroom in Illinois, where a judge last week ruled against Gov. JB Pritzker’s school mask mandate after parents and teachers from more than 150 districts filed lawsuits, according to WLS-TV, an ABC station in Chicago.
Studies show that masking in school dramatically reduces the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Fewer outbreaks means schools can stay open for in-person learning. But some parents wonder how masking might interfere with in-person learning.
Karla Alsop, a mom of three in Virginia, blames masks for her daughter’s difficulty with reading. Alsop’s daughter attends a public school in Stafford County, where schools continue to follow a mask mandate.
“She’s saying that she can’t read like a second grader and she’s afraid to go to school. I can’t, as a parent, let that go,” Alsop told ABC News. “This is about parents having the rights to make the best decisions for their kids regarding their health, regarding their education.”
So far, studies show that for most children, masking at school has minimal effect on development and learning comprehension.
Research shows kids also look at body language and eyes for social cues, according to Dr. Erica Lee, attending psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“That’s something we can still see and still be very expressive with, even if you’re wearing a mask,” Lee said of body language cues.
In Florida, where mask mandates in schools were dropped last fall, Kimberly Lasher continues to send her three daughters, ages 11, 9 and 6, to school wearing masks.
“We just chose to wear masks, I think, to help protect those who maybe aren’t taking the same precautions,” said Lasher. “Perhaps if my daughter is wearing a mask, that can prevent them from spreading COVID to another student or even a teacher and, in our opinion, every little bit helps, for sure.”
According to a poll released last August, 69% of people of supported their local school districts requiring teachers, students and administrators to wear masks in schools at the start of the school year. The same poll, released by Axios/IPSOS, found one in three Americans support state laws prohibiting local governments from requiring masks.
Pediatric cases of COVID-19 surged over the holidays amid the omicron variant but dropped for the first time since Thanksgiving, according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
About 808,000 children tested positive last week, down from a peak of 1,150,000 cases reported the week ending Jan. 20.
The organizations, however, warn that pediatric cases remain “extremely high” and triple the peak level of the delta surge in the summer of 2021.
Though children ages 5 and older are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, more than 28 million eligible children remain completely unvaccinated, according to federal and census data.
Both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to recommend universal indoor masking at schools for all people ages 2 and older, regardless of vaccination status.
Dr. Elissa Perkins, a mom and a Boston Medical Center emergency room doctor with expertise in infectious diseases, said she believes there needs to be a more nuanced approach when it comes to kids and masks.
Perkins told ABC News she was a “very early proponent” of community-wide masking, but said her philosophy began to change as vaccines became more widely available, including to kids.
Most health experts counter that because even vaccinated kids can still transmit the virus, removing mask mandates could pose risks to younger siblings.
“That, for me, was the start of the inflection point when it became time to think about what are we accomplishing with mandatory masks,” she said. “At the same time, masks went from being what were what were initially a short-term intervention to a long-term intervention.”
Perkins continued, “Masks have become a long-term intervention, and we need to examine what the possible downsides might be if we plan to continue them.”
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have heard parents’ concerns and are now studying the potential downstream effects of prolonged masking for children, according to Dr. James A. Griffin, chief of the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
“We do understand that one of the areas where masks do impair children is in their ability to understand what is being said to them,” said Griffin. “The difference between being able to understand a ‘bill’ and a ‘dill’ with the mask on that ‘d’ and ‘b’ sound can be very hard to distinguish without being able to see the lips, so there are challenges … we do recognize.”
Rachel Simmons, a parenting expert and the author of of the bestselling book Odd Girl Out, said if parents are concerned about their child’s struggles due to mask-wearing, they can help their kids cope by creating a plan.
“When our kids have a plan for who they can go see, what they can do when they get stressed out, research tells us they will have the tools to deal with the situation when it comes up,” said Simmons, who also recommends teaching kids mindfulness exercises, like feeling their feet on the ground, and supplying them with something calming, like a fidget toy, note or mint, to use during the day.
For parents who are struggling with how to respond to their child’s school if they don’t agree with the mask policy, Simmons said the best approach is to be a “partner” to the school.
“If you’re difficult to deal with as a parent, it will be harder to get heard,” she said. “So don’t send emails late at night. Be a partner to the school. Show your kids that you can respect someone even when you disagree.”
Simmons added, “And remember, your best way to be heard is if you have other parents standing with you.”
