Mask Mandates

The city of Shawnee will not enforce future masking, vaccination and social distancing orders from Johnson County.

A coalition of religious groups, conservative think tanks, and Republican attorneys general — including in Missouri — have chipped away at local and state authority, altering how the nation can respond during health crises.

Circuit Judge Josh Devine said Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt's anti-mask case against Columbia Public Schools was moot. The Lee’s Summit School District continues to pursue a counterclaim against against Schmitt.

Eric Schmitt's latest round of lawsuits would target districts that have mask policies triggered by the number of students who are ill or by the prevalence of cases in their communities.

Appropriations Vice Chairman Lincoln Hough says he’s upset that Attorney General Eric Schmitt "continues to sue most of the citizens of this state." Since November, Schmitt has sued at least 45 school districts — as well as Kansas City and Jackson County — over their local health orders.

Shortly after a federal judge struck down the Centers for Disease Control's mask mandate for public transportation, all major airlines at Kansas City International Airport announced they would drop their mask requirements.

The Shawnee Mission school board's new plan completely removes a requirement that schools bring back masks if 5% of students are absent due to illness — the threshold that prompted seven elementary schools to bring back universal masking earlier this month.

Delta, United, Southwest, American and Alaska Airlines and other say masks are now optional for travelers on their aircraft.

Six elementary schools in the Shawnee Mission school district returned to wearing masks Monday. All of the schools surpassed the district’s 5% threshold of overall student absence rates related to illness.

A group of 21 states, including Missouri and Kansas, are suing to end the public transportation mandate, claiming the continued enforcement "harms the states" and interferes with local laws. The mandate is in place at least through April 18.

Medicaid expansion in Missouri was supposed to give thousands of Kansas City area residents access to critical health care. But the rollout is going so slowly, many are postponing medical care. At the same time, GOP lawmakers in Missouri are actively trying to defund the program — again.

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention announced that masks are no longer recommended indoors in places with low or medium community risk for COVID-19. However, all counties in the Kansas City metro are still rated as high risk, with the exception of Johnson County, Kansas.