9/16/21 - Parents push for mask mandate inside Michigan schools

A coalition of parent groups on Wednesday urged Michigan's health department to require indoor masking at all schools.

LANSING, Mich. —(WXMI) - The Michigan Parents Alliance for Safe Schools includes pro-mask groups from a dozen counties — seven with school mask mandates and five without.  They want the state's health departments to require that all schools in the state require children to wear a mask.

“Right now you've got about 60% of Michigan's kids covered. What about the other 40%? We're going to keep fighting for them,” said Emily Mellits, a parent of two school-age kids in Macomb County. It is Michigan's third-most populated county and — unlike most large counties and many small ones — does not require face coverings, leaving it to schools to decide.

The coalition, which launched a petition seeking a statewide mandate from state health director Elizabeth Hertel, acted a day after a Republican-controlled Senate committee approved bills that would prevent state and local health officials from mandating masks to attend school. Some GOP legislators have threatened funding repercussions for county health departments that issue mask orders.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration lifted a broad indoor mask mandate in June.  She has said it is better for masking decisions to be made locally because it increases the odds that people will comply.