North Carolina health officials on Tuesday released a report showing 170 ongoing COVID-19 clusters in K-12 schools or child care settings. Health officials said districts without mask wearing requirements are seeing substantially more spread of the virus and hours of lost learning among students. Dozens of districts kicked off the school year with optional mask wearing policies, and nearly all of them have reversed course over the past month as spread of the more contagious delta variant has hit their communities.
MEANWHILE…
Education leaders, health experts and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper have all strongly encouraged districts to require mask wearing, even as the governor has refused to implement a statewide mandate and instead has chosen to leave the decision up to local school boards.
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