Most Kansas students must mask up; COVID closes 1 district

MISSION, Kan. (AP) – More than half of Kansas students are now required to wear masks in school as the delta variant rages, leading to widespread quarantines and forcing one district to call off classes because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

An Associated Press analysis found that 30 of the state’s 50 largest districts have mask mandates in place, with most passed in the last month.

Those 30 districts educate a combined 262,585 of the state’s 476,435 public schoolchildren.

Several other smaller districts also have mandated masks as well, including Atchison and Wamego.

Most of the mandates require masks for all students. A handful, though, only require masks for students who are too young to be vaccinated