The Kings County Public Health Department saw a protest Thursday evening by parents and residents who don’t want elementary students to be required to wear face masks in school.
The Kings County Public Health Department announced Tuesday the first three confirmed cases of the delta COVID variant in the county.
The announcement said the delta variant now accounts for more than 35% of cases in the state. Public Health Director Ed Hill said the new variant is highly transmissible and moves quickly through areas with low vaccination rates, like Kings County.
According to Yale Medical School, in an environment without masks or vaccines someone with the original variant would, on average, infect 2.5 other people, but someone with the delta variant would infect 3.5 or four other people.
While the county is monitoring hospital statistics and keeping a back stock of personal protective equipment and contact tracing staff, Hill said the department is encouraging all people, whether they are vaccinated or not, to continue wearing a mask and avoiding large crowds until more is known about the variant.