Thread by @ashtonpittman

NEW: Two suburban Mississippi school districts are ditching mask mandates for 32,000 students, citing declining COVID-19 cases.

One superintendent said mask mandates had helped improve the situation enough to return to "a greater sense of normalcy."
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While suburban Rankin County and Madison County schools are ditching mask mandates, the nearby Jackson Public School District is going in the opposite direction: Jackson will soon begin requiring COVID-19 vaccination or weekly testing for all K-12 staff.mississippifreepress.org/16223/%E2%80%8…

Jackson Public Schools began the year with a mask mandate in place, while Rankin County Schools began with masks optional on Aug. 6.

By Aug. 10, Rankin Schools had to mandate masks amid a large boom in COVID-19 cases.
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“Last year, I had kids who got sick at school and took COVID home, and their parents died from it,” Northwest Rankin High School teacher Max Vanlandingham told WJTV on Aug. 2.

He supported a mask mandate even as many Rankin parents railed against the idea.mississippifreepress.org/16223/%E2%80%8…

Since school began, at least 922 students in Rankin County Schools, or about 5% of the entire district, have tested positive for COVID-19.

In Jackson Public Schools, just 186 students, or about 1% of all students, tested positive during the same period.mississippifreepress.org/16223/%E2%80%8…

The split between how Jackson's 98% Black public schools are responding to COVID-19 vs. the majority-white suburban Rankin and Madison county schools is emblematic of Mississippi's growing racial gap in pandemic response.
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In the early days of the pandemic, Black Mississippians accounted for about 70% of cases and deaths, despite only being 37% of the population.

Now, white Mississippians account for over 60% of weekly deaths despite only being 56% of the population.
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Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs: "By and large, across the state of Mississippi, African American communities recognize the threat of COVID. ... This has switched to a disproportionately, predominantly white disease in Mississippi.”
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Rankin County School District: “The Rankin County School District Board of Education voted ... to change the current mask mandate to masks not required but highly recommended, due to our improved statistics over the last four weeks."
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Madison County Superintendent, announcing an end to the mask mandate: "We have worked together to curb the spread of illness by washing hands, watching our distance, and wearing masks, and now we are seeing the payoff of these measures firsthand."
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"It is our fervent hope that our Covid-19 numbers will remain low across the District in the coming days" as the Madison County School District ends its mask mandate, Superintendent Charlotte A. Seals said.
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"As we balance a greater sense of normalcy with continued concern for the health and safety of our students, we ask you to remain vigilant in stopping the spread of illness," Madison's superintendent said as she announced the end of the mask mandate.
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The new Jackson Public School District vaccination policy grants paid leave to fully vaccinated employees who contract COVID-19, but unvaccinated employees are not eligible unless they have a legal exemption for medical or religious reasons.
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