Justice Department eyes Texas mask mandate ban in lawsuit from disabled students
ABC News
Disabled students are fighting Texas' mask mandate ban due to the high risk of catching COVID-19 in schools.
The Justice Department filed a new statement of interest in a case involving disabled students in Texas who say they are at a heightened risk of catching COVID-19 because of the state's ban on mask mandates in public schools.
“The serious adverse consequences on students with certain disabilities is readily foreseeable. Some parents of children at heightened COVID-19 risk will likely keep their children at home—even though the children could safely attend school if mask protocols could be put in place," the department said in the filing.
More than 48 million children under the age of 12 are still not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, the U.S. reported almost 207,000 pediatric COVID-19 cases last week, which marks the fifth week in a row with over 200,000 new pediatric cases reported.
