Texas schools amend dress code to require masks

A Texas school district is changing its dress code to include a requirement for masks in an attempt to circumvent Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting mandatory masks.

The board of trustees of the Paris Independent School District has decided to impose masks as part of the dress code beginning Thursday. The district serves about 3,800 students and is situated approximately 100 miles northeast of Dallas.

It has been asserted by the board in a statement that the board thinks the clothing code may be utilized to minimize communicable health issues in Texas.

Abbott’s decision against masks has been challenged in the court, and despite the injunction, many bigger school districts have implemented mask requirements.

At the same time, at least four school districts across the state have shuttered campuses temporarily due to coronavirus infections among staff and children.

The Paris board’s decision came on the same day that the governor tested positive for coronavirus and hospitalizations in the state surged to their highest figures since late January.

Sri Lanka to shutdown Gymnasium and Pools to Counter Covid Outbreak

Sri Lanka is shutting swimming pools, gymnasiums, and children’s playgrounds, as well as enforcing tighter restrictions for individuals leaving their homes, in an attempt to rein in the coronavirus outbreak.

The new regulations, which take effect Wednesday, allowing just one person to leave the house except for employment. Indoor sports facilities will be closed, and gatherings on the beach and musical performances will be banned. State, private, and commercial agencies and companies may function with a small staff and client base.

Sri Lanka is seeing an increase in coronavirus infections, with health authorities warning that hospital and morgue capacity has been surpassed.

The government authorized the purchase of an extra 360,000 liters of liquid oxygen on Wednesday. Furthermore, it has ruled out a complete lockdown due to the economic effect.

Sri Lanka has recorded 6,434 fatalities and 365,683 cases.

Mississippi Establish Second Field Hospital

Mississippi, one of the least-vaccinated states in the US, has established its second field hospital to address a coronavirus outbreak.

Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian aid organization, came in Jackson, Mississippi, along with more than 50 medical experts, erecting tents with 32 beds at the Mississippi Medical Center’s garage. Recently, a federally funded emergency field hospital was established on the medical center’s site.

According to health authorities, the rapidly spreading delta strain is wreaking havoc on the state’s medical system. On July 27, about 726 individuals were hospitalized due to a coronavirus infection. By August 16, that number had risen to 1,623 and only 34% of the state’s population was completely immunized.

Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi’s State Health Officer, said this outbreak is affecting younger, unvaccinated individuals just before schools resume. More youngsters are being treated in hospitals, and one died last week.

Dr. Paul Byers, the state epidemiologist, reports that about 20,000 Mississippi kids are presently quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure, accounting for 4.5 percent of the public school population.

LouAnn Woodward, the medical center’s head, reiterated her appeals for people to be vaccinated. In contrast to Haiti’s natural catastrophe, she asserts that the condition of Mississippi is their own creation.

She added that as a state, and collectively, we have failed to react in a coordinated manner to a shared danger; we have ceased to use the instruments at our disposal to defend ourselves.

There have been 392,300 confirmed cases and 7,880 confirmed fatalities in a state with a population of 3 million.