CDC Director: Schools Should Keep Mask Mandates Amid White House Push for Child Vaccination

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the COVID-19 response, focusing on an update from federal officials, on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 18, 2021. Susan Walsh/Pool via Reuters

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said schools should require masks regardless of vaccines.

“It will take some time and as I just noted, as we head into these winter months we know we cannot be complacent. We also know that from previous data that schools that have had masks in place were three-and-a-half times less likely to have school outbreaks requiring school closure,” Walensky said on Wednesday during a White House COVID-19 briefing.