Debate over requiring masks, vaccinations heats up in Kansas

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Debates about mask mandates and vaccine requirements are intensifying in Kansas as the delta variant sends cases soaring. In the Topeka area, board members for the Auburn-Washburn district voted 6-0 Sunday to approve a mask mandate, effective immediately, for all students, staff and visitors inside district facilities. Meanwhile, Sedgwick County Commissioners on Friday voted down a mandate along party lines after a heated debate in which an anti-mask activist said he and other opponents would show up outside commissioners’ homes with megaphones if they passed the measure. More companies, universities and local governments are expected to require vaccinations now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.