More masking as rise in COVID cases strains Kansas hospitals

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Another Kansas school district is reinstating masking requirements to combat COVID-19 outbreaks and vaccination efforts are increasing as younger patients and staffing shortages increasingly strain Kansas hospitals. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Kansas has risen over the past two weeks from 667.57 new cases per day on July 27 to 1,683.57 new cases per day on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Amid the rise in cases, the Manhattan-Ogden school district’s board voted Wednesday to require students, teachers and staff to wear masks while inside district buildings for the first five weeks of the school year regardless of their vaccination status.