Johnson County leaders will decide Thursday whether to scrap their current school mask mandate for elementary school children or leave it in place through the spring semester as the highly contagious omicron variant pushes COVID-19 cases to record highs. The current county order, in place since August, requires masks in schools that serve students as old as sixth grade in an attempt to slow the virus’s spread while vaccination rates among children remain low. But the rule has come under fire from a litany of state and local officials who argue such mandates should be left to individual school districts to decide. The order will remain in effect through May 31 unless the Johnson County Board of Commissioners amends or revokes it and critics have pleaded with the board to do just that at the board’s meeting Thursday.
Source: Joco 913 News
