USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Jasmine Li's daughter ignored the group of boys. The fifth-grader was standing at the curb outside her Southern California elementary school one day in October, waiting for her parents to pick her up, when they asked her if she had COVID-19.
A few minutes later, she walked to the school's front office to see if one of the staffers could call her parents. She passed by a bigger group of boys, including the ones who taunted her earlier.
They chanted "COVID" as she walked by. Again, she ignored them.
"She said she was almost in tears when she got to the front office," Li said. "You would think that school is the one place where you don't have to worry about this issue … but unfortunately, that's not the case."