Pushback: US high schoolers become unmasked rebels

“We are just trying to gain back our rights as citizens.” Will an unnamed senior in a Washington high school become the Greta Thunberg of the anti-mask, anti-mandate movement?

“We're all walking into school with no masks on,” the teen told a crowd of his peers. "We're doing this peacefully and respectfully, and if a staff member asks you to put a mask on, you say, ‘No, thank you,’ and you keep walking.

“And if they kick you out, then go home,” he added. “We're hoping that they kick us out!”

In another school in Oakdale, California, students who refused to wear face masks were sent to sit in the gym.

Multiple studies have shown face masks don't work to prevent COVID infection or transmission. Several studies have even suggested that wearing masks may actually increase the chance of contracting COVID. For younger children especially, covering up faces is likely to lead to delays in acquiring language skills. But the mandates remain.

For how long? Maybe it's up to us.