District reinstates mask mandates after students get sick

REEDS SPRING, Mo. (AP) – A southwest Missouri school district that dropped its mask mandate earlier this month has decided to reinstate it after several students became infected with COVID-19, leading to dozens of quarantines.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that the 1,700-student Reeds Spring district had gone weeks without a positive case when it decided to make masks optional beginning April 22.

The change didn’t last long, though, before the district decided to reinstate the mandate starting Friday.

It will continue through the end of the school year.

District spokesman Ben Fisher said six positive cases led to 95 quarantines in several buildings.