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Masks will be required during tonight’s in-person North Allegheny school board meeting after a federal judge on Monday re-imposed the district's mask mandate. The court order reverses a board vote in December that made masks optional — and prompted parents to sue the district.
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In some instances, cloth masks are enough to protect against COVID-19.
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Hours after the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the state's school mask mandate, the second-largest public district in Allegheny County voted to make masks optional once the mandate lifts.
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Debates about masking policies are likely to come up again this winter as a statewide mandate is set to expire in January. The state Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on such measures Wednesday.
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Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald is asking all companies and organizations within the county to require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine by Jan. 1. The county's daily COVID-19 numbers remain "stubbornly high."
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On today’s episode of The Confluence: The Associated Press’ Marc Levy lays out the Wolf administration’s update to the mask mandate for K-12 schools, and the legal challenges the existing policy has attracted; and a director with a film in the upcoming Three Rivers Film Festival tells us about her movie, while the executive director of Film Pittsburgh previews what to expect at the now in-person event.
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On today’s episode of The Confluence: Health reporter Sarah Boden explains why some families are suing Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration and UPMC over difficulties in obtaining mask exemptions for children in public schools; more than 4,400 truancy cases were filed in Allegheny County courts in 2020 and the first half of this year, and a PublicSource investigation looks into how these cases impact students; and Prevention Point Pittsburgh’s Alice Bell explains how the state could reduce drug overdoses and infections by legalizing the distribution of clean syringes and other items deemed “drug paraphernalia.”
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On today’s episode of The Confluence: A legislative panel has affirmed the school mask mandate from the state Department of Health, but reporter Stephen Caruso with the Pennsylvania Capital-Star says Republicans are still hoping to overturn the order; a University of Pittsburgh researcher will soon use NASA’s newest telescope to look at faraway objects with infrared light; and a look at how one Pittsburgh TikToker is using the platform to share stories of everyday life from neighbors and strangers.
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The Pennsylvania Department of Health will require that all students in public schools, private schools, and child care facilities wear masks starting Tuesday. Some local school district officials have mixed feelings about the mandate and say they would have preferred the state weigh in before most students returned to classes.
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On today’s program: The state Department of Health announced a mask order for people in schools and child care facilities that will take effect next Tuesday; Jewish Family and Community Services is helping Afghan refugees get settled in their new home; and we answer the question, why do songs get stuck in our heads?