High school students in Douglas County, Colorado, staged protests Wednesday calling for the end of a classroom mask mandate, ABC 7 Denver reported. Students from ThunderRidge High School walked out of class around 9:30 a.m. in protest of the classroom mask requirement, ABC 7 reported. On Monday, the Tri-County Health Department board voted in favor of a mask requirement for all students and staff, ages 2 and up, regardless of vaccination status, ABC 7 reported. The new order does not allow individual counties to opt out of the mask requirement. “We understand that some parents and students are frustrated and disagree with the mask requirement, but masks provide protection and prevent the spread of disease which allows students to remain in school where they learn best,” Tri-County Health Department told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Some students expressed their discontent with the mask requirement. “I believe that masks, they’ve been …