We strongly urge the Ashland City School District to require universal indoor masking for students from this date forward per the latest CDC and AAP guidance. Given the outbreak of the highly transmissible Delta variant in districts that are in neighboring counties, outdoor masking in schools would be prudent as well. Until all school-aged children have the opportunity to be vaccinated against Covid-19, we need to continue to protect them. Even vaccinated individuals can get and spread Covid-19, and while they will be well protected against getting seriously ill, they still may transmit the virus, particularly to those who are unvaccinated. While children are thankfully less likely to die or require hospitalization than adults, many are still developing long term symptoms from the virus. Children’s hospitals around the state and country are asking the public to do their part to protect our most vulnerable. Furthermore, a remote schooling option should be provided, at least until children under 12 have the opportunity to become vaccinated. Hopefully, all our children will have an opportunity to be vaccinated soon. But until then, we need to continue to protect them with universal masking.