Indianapolis Public Schools Forcing Elementary and Middle School Students to Mask Up

Students mask up
AP Photo/LM Otero

Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is ushering in mask mandates yet again, forcing elementary and middle school students to cover their faces, over two years after the start of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

Monday, May 9 marks the first day that K-8 students in the IPS system are required to mask up. IPS is attributing the decision to an “increase in positive” cases in “several grades.” The rule is expected to last for roughly two weeks, through May 24:

Due to an increase in positive COVID-19 cases in several grades — affecting both students and staff — at Center for Inquiry School 84, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is mandating masks on buses and indoors for the school’s students, staff and visitors beginning Monday, May 9 through Tuesday, May 24.

“In addition to the school’s daily activities, field trips and community events will also require staff, students and visitors to wear masks,” IPS added.

The forced masking of children comes as Americans continue to attempt to put the pandemic behind them and return to a state of maskless, pre-pandemic normalcy. There are currently no statewide mask mandates in effect, yet local leaders are still targeting schools, forcing children to mask up.

Bangor schools, for instance, is also forcing children to mask up beginning Monday, citing rising coronavirus cases in Penobscot County. These restrictions also come as U.S. travelers enjoy maskless flying after a Trump-appointed federal judge nixed the Biden administration’s rule.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). the Chinese coronavirus poses little risk to children, with 0.1 -1.5 percent of child cases resulting in hospitalization in the 25 states reporting. Additionally, 0.00 -0.02 percent of all child coronavirus cases resulted in death in the 46 states reporting.

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