That’s it, Kentucky. No more masks for you. At least not unless you want to wear them.
Late Thursday night, the Kentucky General Assembly rejected Gov. Andy Beshear’s pleas to support masking in an effort to slow COVID-19, which is engulfing the state. The Republican-led body overrode Beshear’s vetoes of bills that stripped the governor’s emergency powers.
Last month, Beshear ordered masking in all Kentucky schools under the advisement of state and local health officials. Two weeks later, the Kentucky Supreme Court declared that the General Assembly could limit what a governor can and cannot do, including in emergency situations.
As a result, Beshear now has to call a special session to discuss and pass any new state of emergency, and then later pass orders that result from the state of emergency. This time, the governor asked the General Assembly to extend Kentucky’s state of emergency through Jan. 15, 2022 to allow him and health officials to enact strategies to respond to the current surge in COVID-19 cases.
Beshear and the lawmakers had been meeting since Tuesday.
Beshear vetoed two bills that Republicans presented this week. Senate Bill 1 nullified an emergency mandate of masks at public schools and childcare centers, leaving that decision to local officials or business owners. Senate Bill 2 banned statewide mask mandates until June 2023.
But the lawmakers resoundingly rejected Beshear’s vetoes close to midnight Thursday night, with the Senate overriding Beshear 21-6 on SB1 and 23-25 on SB2. The House then overrode the SB1 veto 69-24 and went 69-22 with no debate on SB2.
The cumulative effect ends the universal mask mandate in state schools as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to spike throughout Kentucky, with Beshear calling last week “the worst week ever” for infections in the Commonwealth.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists every single county in Ohio and Kentucky — including counties around Cincinnati on both sides of the Ohio River — as having high risk for COVID-19 transmission. All counties on the CDC’s data tracker are red, indicating the most severe situation.
Legislature supporters said their vote was about giving districts flexibility. In addition to being able to end mask mandates, districts will get 20 extra remote learning days, and the bill will direct the state Department for Public Health to develop a “test to stay” model for Kentucky schools.
But opponents said the bill puts Kentucky children and school staffers at risk.
Two-thirds of Kentucky school districts were planning on letting students and teachers decide whether or not to wear masks before the universal mask mandate was announced.
The Kentucky Human Rights Commission circulated a letter among state lawmakers Thursday, warning that it would likely launch investigations should the General Assembly nix the mask mandate. This would be done on the premise that the bill violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by excluding some kids with disabilities from public school.
The 20 extra remote learning days that the bill grants will be in addition to the 10 non-traditional instruction days that each Kentucky school district can use should they need to shut down during this pandemic-tainted school year. Districts will receive 20 extra days to move individual schools or classes to remote learning. Before the final vote, Louisville lawmaker Rep. Tina Bojanowski attempted to add an amendment that would allow districts 20 remote learning days per school building, but her move failed.
The “test to stay” program that the Department of Public Health has been instructed to create will allow for students and staff to stay in school if they have been exposed to COVID-19 as long as they test negative for the virus.
A version of this story was published by CityBeat sister paper LEO Weekly.
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This article appears in Sep 1-14, 2021.
