Mask mandates row heats up in US

As schools resume in-person class for the fall semester across the United States, more faculty members from schools that refuse to issue mask or vaccination mandates are petitioning, protesting, or even resigning over a lack of safety measures at their campuses.

Hundreds of colleges and universities in the US require their students to be vaccinated to return to campus and wear masks in classes or during activities, since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines for universal masking in indoor public places regardless of vaccination status.

Despite the CDC's recommendations, some universities, primarily in conservative states, refuse to institute mask or vaccination mandates citing state laws that prohibit such restrictions.

The US Education Department on Monday said it has initiated investigations into Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah states, where universal mask mandates are prohibited in schools.

The five states have Republican governors who have argued that wearing a mask should be up to the parents and have enacted laws prohibiting or restricting mandates.

The department said those five states may be violating civil rights laws protecting students with disabilities. These students are at heightened risk of severe illness from COVID-19, and the states' prohibition on mask mandates may restrict their access to free appropriate public education.

Politics over health

"It's simply unacceptable that state leaders are putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve," said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement.

A group of students and faculty members at Georgia State University held a demonstration on Monday to demand a mask mandate and vaccine requirements.

The protest came shortly after a teacher from the university was fired after refusing to teach in-person classes where masks were not worn.

Georgia's state university system encourages masks, but does not have mask or vaccine mandates at its 26 schools. Last week, a University of Georgia professor resigned in the middle of a class after a student refused to wear a mask properly.

More professors have reportedly quit over lack of stringent safety measures, as universities mandate face-to-face teaching. A journalism professor in Tennessee and an economics professor in Pennsylvania also recently resigned after their universities denied their requests to teach remotely.

Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said on Sunday he supports COVID-19 vaccine mandates for children attending schools.

"I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea," Fauci told CNN's State of the Union program. "We've done this for decades and decades, requiring polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis" vaccinations.

Currently, children under 12 are not eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. But Fauci, in a separate interview on ABC's This Week program, said there should be enough data by early October for the US Food and Drug Administration to consider whether the shot is safe for children under that age.

Agencies contributed to this story.