Most parents back mask mandates, but the states where GOP parents are most opposed aren't the ones we always hear about, according to a new Axios/Momentive poll.
Why it matters: While plenty of attention has centered around debates around the public health measures in schools in states like Texas and Florida, the poll offers a glimpse at how much more widespread opposition is across the country.
As expected, individuals' feelings on mask mandates fell along party lines, with 85% of Democrats, 66% of independents, and 32% of Republicans supporting mask mandates for all students and staff at their child’s school.
But rather than states where school mask mandates bans have been in the national spotlight, such as Texas and Florida, opposition to school mask mandates is highest in Colorado (37%), Minnesota (38%), and Ohio (43%) — as well as Iowa (44%), which does have a ban.
Drilling down even deeper, fewer than half (46%) of Republicans in Texas —which has been especially hard hit by COVID in recent weeks — oppose all mask mandates. In comparison, 70% of Colorado Republicans oppose the mandates.
In Florida, more than half of Republican parents (52%) say they oppose all mask mandates. In comparison, Republican parents oppose the mandates by margins ranging from 2:1 to 3:1 in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois, the poll found.
What they're saying: "The cross-state variability in Republican sentiment is notable," Jon Cohen, the chief research officer for Momentive told Axios. "School politics is ultimately local too, so a deeper dive within the states is a clear next step."
By the numbers: Overall, nearly 60% of parents backed the broadest school mandates, nearly twice as many as the number who say they oppose all mask mandates.
Another 10% of parents with children age five to 17 say they support mask mandates only for those students and staff members who are unvaccinated.
What this tells me is that Republicans in states where school mask mandates are present and working are the most likely to be against mask mandates in school. On the other hand, you have states like Ohio where there are some districts with mask mandates but not all, and they haven't been hit as hard by COVID as say, Texas or Florida to make them think any differently.
In both cases, Republicans are against mandates because their states haven't been flooded by COVID.
The Ohio Hospital Association reports the strain on the state’s hospitals is getting tighter due to coronavirus.
Currently, 1 in 7 patients in the hospital is being treated for COVID-19.
A week ago, that number was 1 in 8.
To give you an idea of how fast those numbers are climbing, 2 months ago 1 in 101 patients admitted to the hospital were being treated for coronavirus.
There are 2,933 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Ohio.
67 of those admitted in the last week are children 17 and under.
That’s an increase of 81.1% from a week ago.
The data shows that those numbers are still climbing and have not hit a plateau.
Admissions are up in all age groups.
So yes, expect Ohio and the rest of the Midwest to get crushed by COVID this month.
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