Boys with chinstraps at the entrance of a New York school, in an image from March. Photo: AP
Coronavirus cases in the United States are on the rise, so some school districts, particularly in the northeast of the country, have decided to continue the requirements and recommendations for the use of chinstraps for the first time since the winter rebound ended due to the omicron variant. , and at that time the country close to a million deaths from the pandemic.
The return of masks to schools was not as prevalent in the early part of the pandemic, especially now that public concern about the virus has subsided.
But districts in Maine, New Jersey and Pennsylvania continue to wear masks, and some districts in Massachusetts also recommend them even though the school year is a few weeks away.
Maine’s largest school district, in Portland, this week announced the return of the masks, which Superintendent Xavier Botana said was the “safest thing to do right now” amid increased infections.
Schools in Bangor, Maine, have also continued the universal requirement for masks.
In some school districts in the United States, children must return to wearing a mask to school. Photo: Reuters
High schools in suburban Pittsburgh and in Montclair, New Jersey, have also announced the return of the masks, albeit only for this week.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most of the nation’s counties considered “elevated” Covid-19 levels are in the Northeast.
Officials also recommend the use of face masks in schools in parts of Massachusetts that have seen high levels of Covid-19 infection.
praise and criticism
Reactions range from support to annoyance. On the Facebook page of Woodland Hills High School in suburban Pittsburgh, a woman called the change “absurd.”
Diana Martinez and Owen Cornwall, who have a daughter who is in first grade at Graham and Parks School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, follow recommendations to wear a mask.
Boys at a school in Harbor City, near Los Angeles, California, in August of last year. Photo: EFE
“We’re very happy with it. It gives us a little bit of peace of mind,” said Martinez, 43, a professor at Tufts University.
“I think parents generally tend to wear them and that makes it easier for us. It’s the same in our preschool. There are some parents who won’t put a mask on their kids, but we will,” he added.
The daily reported cases in the United States averaged 79,000, up 50% from two weeks ago, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. This is a fraction of the number of day-to-day cases registered a few months ago, when they exceeded 800,000.
The United States is approaching one million deaths from Covid-19.
Worldwide, there are more than 6 million pandemic deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University number.
By Steve LeBlanc and Mike Catalini, AP Agency
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Source: Clarin
