New Virginia governor’s order on masks prompts confusion, law suits

Confusion, lawsuit follow Virginia governor's order on masks | AP News RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia's new Republican governor was facing pushback from Democratic lawmakers, school districts and a group of parents who sued him Tuesday over an executive order that aims to create an opt-out for classroom mask mandates. AP NEWS

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The order issued Saturday and set to take effect Monday was among Glenn Youngkin’s first acts after he was sworn in as Virginia’s 74th governor. The move both fulfilled a campaign pledge and inserted Youngkin, a political newcomer working with a divided legislature, into a divisive issue that’s generated controversy and legal challenges in other states around the country.

Youngkin’s order said the parents of any child in elementary or secondary schools or a school-based early childcare or educational program “may elect for their children not to be subject to any mask mandate.”

In part because of a state law passed last year on a bipartisan basis dealing with classrooms and pandemic policies, school districts in many of the state’s most populous localities have since told parents they planned to keep existing mask mandates in place, at least temporarily. ...