New California school mask rule doesn’t faze many students

LOS ANGELES — Some high school students take “mask breaks” and go outside for gulps of unfiltered air. They are irked by the beads of sweat on their upper lip in the heat, but nothing that a quick swipe can’t handle. They have learned to talk louder in class. A student sitting at her desk plans for a drink of water — mask down, sip, mask up. And sports conditioning while masked? Exhausting yet better than sitting at home.

As California begins to return to fully reopened campuses this month for in-person learning, the state’s mandatory mask rule will continue to be part of the new normal for all K-12 schools, which join a growing list of counties and public places that require indoor masking amid the COVID-19 surge fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant.

If past months and the first days of the new year are any indication of how students are dealing with the latest coronavirus school rule, many say they are largely over it. They have adjusted to the discomfort and would much rather be in school with their friends than at home on a computer.

“It’s become like second nature in a sense,” said Deven Allen, 17, an incoming senior at Lawndale High School. “You kind of can’t leave the house without a mask. You kind of feel naked without it.”

On Monday, the San Bernardino Unified School District welcomed its students back to school, and at Kimbark Elementary School, the first day after more than a year of remote learning featured music, balloons and emotions, said Carissa Raia, who dropped off her 8-year-old for the third grade. She said her child’s excitement to be back at school snuffed out any complaints.

“I feel like the kids are more used to it. It’s the parents that are freaking out,” Raia said, noting that her 12-year-old, who started seventh grade, has also become accustomed to wearing masks. “It’s not that big of a deal for us.”