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Some area parents are pulling kids from school as mask mandates are lifted

A drawing of hands holding a mask
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After most area schools have lifted mask mandates, some parents are deciding to homeschool their children due to safety concerns.

Abigail is the mother of a high school student in Williamson county, who asked that we not use her last name because she has seen so many horrible things directed people who support masking.

She said that while her daughter is vaccinated, her family didn't want to risk COVID when there are still so many unknowns with the disease.

"I think kind of the scariest thing for us is that we don't know the long term effects on how COVID could affect her, if she were to get it, being the age she is," she said. "There have been many people in our circle who unfortunately contracted COVID and several have had to deal with long COVID symptoms and it creates these kind of bizarre symptoms and we don't have answers for them and we don't have solutions for them and at her age I would hate for her to have lingering effects that would impact the rest of her adolescence and going into adulthood."

She said her daughter's school didn't offer any accommodations for students who were uncomfortable being in close proximity to unmasked classmates or make remote learning an option.

Steph Whiteside is a Digital Media News Specialist with WSIU radio in Carbondale, Ill. She previously worked as a general reporter at AJ+ and Current TV.
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