Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee Allows Parents to Opt Out of Mask Mandate in Schools

U.S.|Tennessee’s politician allows parents to opt retired of disguise mandates astatine school.

• Aug. 16, 2021Updated 6:50 p.m. ET

As the Delta variant fuels a caller coronavirus wave, peculiarly successful areas with underwhelming vaccination rates, Tennessee connected Tuesday became the latest authorities wherever a politician has undermined efforts by section schoolhouse districts to necessitate students to deterioration masks arsenic the caller schoolhouse twelvemonth approaches.

Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed an executive bid connected Tuesday fundamentally gutting immoderate schoolhouse district’s effort to necessitate its students to deterioration masks.

According to the order, a student’s genitor oregon guardian “shall person the close to opt retired of immoderate bid oregon requirement” that the pupil “wear a look covering” astatine school, connected schoolhouse buses, oregon astatine schoolhouse functions.

The fig of caller coronavirus cases successful Tennessee has been steadily rising since July, according to a New York Times database. As of Sunday, Tennessee recorded its highest play mean of coronavirus cases since precocious January.

Mr. Lee’s enforcement bid comes days aft video surfaced last week showing anti-mask protesters threatening doctors who expressed enactment for requiring look coverings during a section schoolhouse committee gathering successful Williamson County.

Tennessee is 1 of respective battlegrounds with a Republican politician who opposes disguise mandates and section schoolhouse officials who privation them.

About 2 weeks ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican and an ardent hostile of nationalist wellness mandates, signed an enforcement order directing authorities officials to guarantee that parents person the last accidental connected whether their children deterioration masks successful school this fall. On Sunday, the chairwoman of the Broward County School Board said the territory had nary prime but to defy Mr. DeSantis’s ban. “We’re surviving retired the nightmare of the Covid pandemic, wherever truthful galore radical successful our county, including members of our unit and others, are being impacted,” said Rosalind Osgood, connected the CBS programme “Face the Nation.” “We judge that we person a law work to support the lives of our students and staff.”

Last week, Mr. DeSantis and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas some blocked section schoolhouse districts from requiring masks oregon taking different measures to support students from the coronavirus successful the coming schoolhouse year.

But respective schoolhouse districts person taken their combat to the courts.

The Texas Supreme Court connected Sunday ruled that the state’s politician tin prohibition disguise mandates, astatine slightest temporarily. Some districts, though, vowed to support the requirements. On Tuesday, a judge successful Bexar County ruled successful favour of officials successful the region and the metropolis of San Antonio who had already enactment successful spot a disguise requirement astatine schools, arsenic good arsenic region and metropolis facilities, according to a newsman astatine KENS5 and a spokesperson for the county.