ATLANTA — More than half of all Georgia public school students are now required to wear masks in class, according to district announcements tracked by The Associated Press, as many school systems that had sought to let students and parents decide on the divisive issue of face coverings clamp down amid roaring COVID-19 infection rates.
Mask mandates spread in Georgia schools as child cases soar
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![In this Aug. 19, 2021 file photo, people in favor of and against a mask mandate for Cobb County schools gather and protest ahead of the school board meeting in Marietta, Ga. Across the country, anti-vaccine and anti-mask demonstrations are taking scary an](https://statesboroherald.cdn-anvilcms.net/media/images/2021/08/26/images/mask_mandate.max-752x423.jpg)
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