The vice president of the State Board of Education and Superintendent is calling on Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration to issue a mask mandate for schools.

Michigan’s Board of Education has approved a resolution that supports allowing local school districts to make “scientifically informed decisions” about whether to mandate COVID-19 masks for all students, teachers and visitors.

As K-12 schools prepare to resume in-person learning in Michigan and across the nation this fall, many are discussing whether children should be required to wear face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Activists and advocates are calling for Michigan to declare racism a public health pandemic and take the steps needed to end it. We are definitely done dying, Michigan State Conf. In Michigan, COVID-19 rates of Blacks are four times that of Whites, Michigan State Conf. NAACP Health Chair Dr. Pamela Pugh said. The organizations want to see a declaration of racism as a public health pandemic on a state level, along with action and resources to address it.