A majority of parents support school-wide mask mandates as skepticism toward online learning grows

Box of face masks outside school.
(Image credit: Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)

Eager to ditch distance learning, a "strong majority" of parents with school-aged children said they support mask mandates for students and teachers, especially given "the surge in pediatric COVID cases," USA Today reports, per a new USA Today/Ipsos poll.

More specifically, 2 in 3 parents are in favor of enforced school-wide mask wearing, with optimism toward online learning having found itself on the decline, USA Today writes. Parents are more skeptical of the system than they were before, and their confidence in the work districts did to "adequately [prepare] students for remote instruction" reportedly dropped 15 percent from last May, now down to just about half.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.