LANSING, Mich. — The Lansing School District will consider whether or not to lift the mask mandate.
But parents like Brian Hagler feels lifting the mask mandate shouldn’t be up for consideration.
“I just think lifting the mask mandate for the schools will be a bad idea,” said Hagler. He says COVID-19 numbers within the district are still pretty high.
According to district’s online dashboard, Lansing schools have seen over 700 COVID cases so far this year.
One of those was Hagler’s 10-year-old son Christoper, who attends Dwight Rich School of the Arts.
“He was sleeping a lot, he had lots of coughing, his eyes were itching and he had an upset stomach,” said Hagler.
Several area schools have had to temporarily close due to COVID outbreaks this school year, including Sexton High School.
Another parent, James Defrees, said he'll support whatever masking decision the district makes.
“I think the best decision that we can do is make the best decisions with the information that we have and Lansing school district has shown that they have been doing that all throughout the pandemic,” said Defrees. “They’ve been cautious, feel like they’ve been wise.”
“I think part of those precautions is mandating masks in school,” said East Lansing School District parent Lynette long. “The virus is still live, it’s still real and especially since we are neighboring MSU in this East Lansing community. We know this virus is not going away.”
So far this year, East Lansing schools have seen close to 150 COVID cases, but Long says it seems like a lot more.
“There are friends that she knows probably weekly or sometimes two or three times a week who have tested positive. And then they are out of school for days,” Long said.
The Ingham Health Department says they want to make it clear that they are recommending all school districts continue to require masks.
“It helps kids enjoy in person learning safer and exclude things like quarantine,” said Linda Vail with the Ingham County Department. “So in general, it provides better continuity for in person learning. If we have as much mitigation as possible, we keep things from happening in schools.”
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