OHIO – A new bill at the Ohio Statehouse would ban schools from requiring masks for anyone on school grounds. This bill comes after the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all school children 2 and up should wear masks in school vaccinated or not.
What legislators and the AAP agree on is that children should return to school this year and limit remote learning that has lead to inequities in education and exacerbated mental health among children, but that’s where it stops.
AAP says that last year during the pandemic mask-wearing and social distancing worked with minimizing the spread of the virus, and suggests they continue mask-wearing due to varients of the virus.
This fall schools are already banned from requiring vaccines after Governor Dewine signed a bill banning public schools and universities from requiring the vaccine until FDC approval.
SB 209 reads in part, “after the 2020-2021 school year, the state board of education, the department of education, and the board of education of any school district shall not require any individual, including students, teachers, other school employees, and visitors, to wear a facial covering to attend or participate in in-person instruction, school-sponsored athletics, or another school-sponsored extracurricular activity, or in any other place on school premises.”
To read entire bill click here: https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/solarapi/v1/general_assembly_134/bills/sb209/IN/00/sb209_00_IN?format=pdf
