Despite it being more than a year into the pandemic, too many people are still refusing to abide by safety regulations, including wearing a mask. The delta variant is spreading fast, especially among young people, yet some folks would still rather risk their child’s (and their own) health than simply put on a mask for protection.

Nationwide, some people are resorting to violence as health officials work to protect their children, claiming that their rights as parents are being impacted. Even in states with high COVID-19 cases and infections, including Florida (which continues to surpass its own records of daily COVID-19 cases), parents are protesting mask mandates in schools. As a result, within days of the new school year’s start, children are not only being infected by COVID-19 but bringing the virus home.

According to CNN, a week after classes began in Tampa, officials in Hillsborough County announced that at least 5,599 students and 316 employees were in isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19 infection. The school board announced an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the impact of COVID-19 and mitigation strategies including “mandatory face coverings for all students and staff.”

Of course, despite the known number of infections in the county and the fact that the state makes up 25% of all current COVID-19 infections nationwide, some parents still opposed this decision.

Officials had first announced they would require face coverings in school on Aug. 7. However parents were able to opt out of this requirement. CNN reported that as of Aug. 12, more than 27,900 parents submitted opt-out submissions, according to school district spokesperson Tanya Arja.

The mask requirement comes at a time in Florida when Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said the state could move to withhold salaries of officials who impose mask mandates in schools. The GOP official, not caring about the residents of his state, left whether or not children should wear masks to parents.

Similar opposition was shared in North Carolina. Viral videos depicted anti-maskers attempting to “overthrow” the local school board and have new members take over, during a meeting attended by  Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn.

While the board members simply adjourned the meeting and walked away, crowds of anti-maskers continued to yell at them. One woman wearing a black T-shirt that said “unmask our kids” even went viral for refusing to leave.

“I’m not leaving until you do a revote for the people, by the people, and of the people,” she said.

But it doesn’t end there, as other states are experiencing similar issues. Since the start of August, several anti-masker protests have been reported in states like California, Ohio, and Virginia.

Hours before a Virginia Beach school board took a vote on mask mandates, parents showed up angry. According to Pilot Online, the meeting last week had “plenty of shouting.”Parents accused the school board of child abuse and said the members were going to hell for implementing a mandatory mask mandate.

In one incident, a woman snorted with laughter as a teenage girl said she was in favor of masks because she feared for people like her father, who has one lung. Crowds even laughed when a board member talked about comforting children who lost parents to COVID-19.

Clearly, these parents didn’t care for the health and safety of children in schools—only their own personal political agendas.

In Kentucky, the mask mandate debate has intensified. While some Republican lawmakers in the state believe decisions should be made locally, others argue that a statewide decision should be made on schools and masks requirements.

“We love our children. We want good outcomes for our kids,” Sen. Ralph Alvarado said. “Our superintendents work very, very hard to make sure that happens,” Alvarado said, noting that school boards know best what their counties and residents need.

While multiple lawmakers said they supported health measures including vaccinations and wearing a mask, they argued that those decisions should be left to parents. Board meetings in the state have ranged from parents arguing that wearing masks infringes on personal choice and liberty to some concerned for their unvaccinated or immunocompromised children.

According to the Courier-Journal, similar mask policies were in place in schools in the spring—with less controversy.

In Tennessee, parents not only protested mask mandates during a school board meeting but harassed and threatened medical professionals afterward, Daily Kos reported.“We know who you are. You can leave freely, but we will find you,” they threatened as they crowded around medical professionals outside after the meeting.

To make matters worse, instead of addressing this violence and the importance of mask-wearing, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed an executive order Monday allowing parents to opt their children out of school mask mandates. “No one cares more about the health & well-being of a child than a parent,” Lee said when announcing the order on Twitter.

But the truth is, some parents care more about alleged infringements of their rights than the health of their children.

Without mask mandates in place, children are increasing the spread of COVID-19. New studies have found just how dangerous it can be for children contract COVID-19 can be, contradicting studies early on in the pandemic that found children are less likely to experience COVID-19 symptoms. Across the country, more young adults and children are being admitted to hospitals at alarming rates and those under age 12 are not even eligible for the vaccine, putting them at greater risk.

“In some ways, this is the opposite of what we had been told in the past,” Dr. Edith Bracho Sanchez, a primary care pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, told ABC News. “It just shows how humble we have to be when it comes to children and this virus.”

“We always knew children could get it, could transmit it, and could get sick with COVID,” she added. “I think we’re learning more and more just how much.”

Making a scene and threatening public health officials at meetings is not the only violence some parents are committing. In one incident, a parent in California allegedly assaulted a sixth-grade teacher when he saw his child leave school wearing a mask during after-school pickup, Daily Kos reported. The incident occurred on the first day back to school.

As cases of COVID-19 continue to climb and hospitalizations increase across the country, the question we must ask ourselves is how we plan on combatting this issue. Without people willing to follow mask and vaccine mandates, will we ever recover from this pandemic? GOP officials must take responsibility for their actions and stop the spread of misinformation. Otherwise, lives that could have been spared will continue to be lost.