At least five school districts, most in the northeast of the country, have reinstated mask requirements for students amid an uptick in COVID-19 infections, and two requested that students be tested for the virus before returning to school from winter break.
However, the trend toward student mask requirements does not appear to be growing toward the levels seen a year ago at the height of the pandemic.
The number of new COVID-19 infections rose after reaching a weekly low of about 260,000 on Oct. 19, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
By Dec. 21, weekly infections peaked at more than 487,000, which prompted action in several school districts….