(ThePatriotWire)- Schools in several Democrat-controlled states have announced that mask mandates will return to combat the so-called “tripledemic” of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), influenza, and COVID.
School districts in states like Pennsylvania, Washington, and New Jersey have already asked students to wear masks.
The Passaic Public Schools in New Jersey, which covers 14,000 students, implemented a mask mandate effective this week for pre-K through 12th grade, saying COVID cases have entered the “high activity level” and masks will remain until the cases drop to moderate or low levels.
Sheppard Pratt School in Maryland returned to a mask mandate due to an “uptick in infections” from the “tripledemic.” The temporary mask requirement will remain in place until two weeks after students return from Christmas break.
The Philadelphia School District, the country’s eighth-largest school system, will require students to wear masks for two weeks after the Christmas break as a “proactive measure” since many children will be “involved in quite a few social gatherings” during the holiday season. The district will also provide free at-home COVID tests to families.
At Spokane, Washington’s Wilson Elementary School, masks will also be required after nearly a third of the students called out sick due to “cold and flu-related sickness.” Washington’s Department of Health also advised St. John Vianney School in Spokane to implement a mask mandate after 10 percent of its students were absent due to illness.
Sacramento Unified School District is also considering requiring masks for its students if COVID cases continue to increase. Currently, cases in Sacramento, California remain at a “medium level.”
Fearing a rise in “tripledemic” cases during the holiday season, about 200 parents signed a petition demanding Boston Public School reimplement a mask mandate for ten days.
One Boston parent told NBC 10 that the only way to get people to mask up is for the school to make masks mandatory.
