On July 4, 2021, while the nation celebrated its freedom on Independence Day, it was also celebrating a newfound freedom from COVID-19. 

According to statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Pennsylvania reported only 121 new cases on July 4. Freedom from the virus was marked by lower hospitalization and death rates and less strict mask mandates, lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. The future looked bright, and many hoped that COVID-19 might finally be in the rearview mirror. Soon these hopes were dashed as the highly contagious Delta variant took hold, and on Sept. 1, Pennsylvania reported 3,641 new cases with a daily average of over 3,000 cases in the first week of September.

With cases rising and schools starting back up, Governor Wolf aligned Pennsylvania with CDC recommendations and instituted another mandatory mask mandate in an attempt to keep schools open in the fall. Effective Sept.7, 2021, masks would be required to be worn inside K-12 school buildings, early childhood learning programs and child care providers. 

Wolf justified his decision, citing health department guidance and “an outpouring of messages from parents asking the administration to protect all children by requiring masks in schools” after only 59 of 474 school districts statewide adopted mask mandates in August.

Wolf said that he would have “preferred for local school boards to make this decision.” 

In addition, he stated, “Unfortunately, an aggressive nationwide campaign is spreading misinformation about mask-wearing and pressuring and intimidating school districts to reject mask policies that will keep kids safe and in school. As we see cases among children increase in Pennsylvania and throughout the country, this is especially dangerous and challenging as we seek to keep kids in school and maintain a safe and healthy learning environment.”

Democrats overwhelmingly supported the mandate as a public health measure. Republicans reacted harshly, claiming that Wolf had overstepped his authority and was threatening the civil liberties of Pennsylvanians everywhere. 

The fight over mask requirements has become highly politicized, as evidenced by anti-mask and pro-mask rallies at the Pennsylvania Capitol. It transformed once quiet and routine school board meetings into political battlefields pitting parents against school board members for following the state mask mandate. 

In many school districts, the mandate fell victim to the infamous “parent’s note loophole,” where parents could get around the mandate by simply signing a note saying that their children did not have to wear masks in school.

The state government struggled to come up with a response to shift tensions away from school boards and to properly enforce the mandate at the state level. 

On Sept. 10, Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Health clarified in an address to the public that the masking loophole would not exempt children from having to wear masks within schools. 

Republicans responded on Sept. 28 by passing a bill in the Pennsylvania State Senate on a party line vote that would protect the rights of parents across the state who wished to opt out of the mask mandate. The mask exemption bill is unlikely to be signed by the governor’s office. Meanwhile, vaccine hesitancy and distrust of the government continue to erode our institutions and lead to needless deaths, while an increasing number of statistics show that students have performed worse because of lockdown restrictions, school closures and the struggles associated with online learning. The masking and vaccination mandate issue will likely be front and center in next year’s gubernatorial election. It is clear that no matter who prevails in this seemingly endless political conflict, students and school boards caught in the crossfire will be the biggest losers.