Multiple local county school boards and superintendents have been pushing back against state-level Republican bans on school mask requirements as students prepare to return to their classrooms in the fall.
Meanwhile, Republicans’ war on masks has led to a pressure cooker situation where school board meetings looking at mask policies have been disrupted by furious anti-mask protesters who shout down board members and health officials in attendance.
The bubbling tension serves as an illustration of the depth of the U.S.’s vaccine divide — a place where public health best-practice meets outrage over personal freedom, as the Delta variant rips through under-vaccinated communities and the half-vaccinated country heads into what could be a deadly fall.
Follow our live coverage below: