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z__COVID-19

Masks on?

Youngstown City Schools, the Mahoning Valley’s largest public district, will be mandating students and staff to wear face masks inside school buildings. They also will be required to wear masks on buses during the upcoming school year, said Denise Dick, district director of communications and public relations. Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday encouraged Ohio K-12 schools across the state to require masks in their facilities and to increase vaccinations. “Ohioans are united in wishing all our children will have a school year … to stay in class with in-person learning without ...

DeWine urges schools to impose mask rules

With the state Legislature removing his autonomy to issue health orders and classes getting ready to start, Gov. Mike DeWine pleaded with school officials to require face masks to protect against COVID-19. “If you are not requiring masks, please think about it again,” DeWine said Tuesday. “At the very least, consider requiring masks for the next few weeks when we know the spread level will be very high. You can always go back to not wearing masks when the spread has reduced. With increasing numbers of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, this is the time to take precautions ...

Biden to require COVID vaccines for nursing home staff

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden today announced that his administration will require that nursing home staff be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. Biden unveiled the new policy this afternoon in a White House address as the administration continues to look for ways to use mandates to encourage vaccine holdouts to get shots. "If you visit, live or work in a nursing home, you should not be at a high risk for contracting COVID from unvaccinated employees," Biden said. The new mandate, in ...

Big Florida school districts defy governor over mask mandate

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Students in Florida's Broward County went back to school under a mask mandate today, even as their school board faced threats of severe penalties for defying Gov. Ron DeSantis. And school officials in Hillsborough and Miami-Dade counties planned to address the public health measure later today, hoping to reduce infections in classrooms. In Miami, Florida's largest school district with 334,000 students, a task force of medical experts recommended students should be required to wear masks when they return to classrooms next week. Superintendent Alberto ...