Students In Minneapolis Return To Classrooms With Masks Required
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Another school district is now back for in-person learning, as students enrolled with Minneapolis Public Schools return to class Wednesday morning.
WCCO's Heather Brown visited Bryn Mawr Elementary School in Minneapolis, where students and staff will need to mask up for their first day back. That's the policy district-wide, as it is with several of the states' other large districts.
Mandatory masking for all is not the case in Minnesota's largest district: Anoka-Hennepin. They went back to school Tuesday. That school system is only universally requiring it for students and staff in kindergarten through fifth grade, as well as sixth-grade students.
It's up to each district to require masks. Some are making their decisions based on the local COVID-19 positivity rate.
All this comes as the more contagious Delta variant dominates. The Albert Lea district has already felt the impact. Schools there had 66 positive cases in just the first week back. Almost 300 students were quarantined.
Minnesota officials are hoping to prevent more cases like this, and keep track of who's getting sick. Also, the state is reopening at the Minneapolis Convention Center downtown for free COVID testing.
