Bearing Drift: “Virginia’s election campaign became the latest entry into the Fall-Plans-Delta-Variant meme collage last week, courtesy of Governor Ralph Northam, who imposed a statewide mask mandate for all K-12 schools (NBC12)
Gov. Ralph Northam announced a public health emergency order on Thursday to require universal masking in all Virginia K-12 schools.
“That requires all students, teachers, staff, visitors in our public and private K-12 schools in Virginia to wear a mask indoors and that’s regardless of their vaccination status,” said Dr. Laurie Forlano, VDH Deputy Commissioner for Population Health.
A release from Northam’s office states the order reinforces state law that requires schools to adhere to mitigation strategies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The decision comes after some school districts, such as Hanover County, decided to make masks optional. The county has since reversed its decision to comply with the mandate.
It didn’t take long for the two nominees vying to replace Northam to weigh in, in the expected manner. Here’s Youngkin.
We must respect parents’ right to decide what is best for their own children. If parents, teachers, and children want to wear a mask, they absolutely should do that, but there should not be a statewide school mask mandate.
Naturally, T-Mac had a different reaction.
Terry believes we have to do everything we can to keep our children safe while they return to schools in-person this fall, and he believes everyone should follow CDC guidelines in wearing masks and getting vaccinated.
Of course, the two also had nasty comments toward their counterpart’s view. I’m sure you’re as shocked as I am.”