ANN ARBOR, MI (MPRN)-- COVID cases among kids are higher in counties where school districts do not have mask rules.
That's according to researchers at the University of Michigan, who looked at the data from the first few weeks of the school year.
Marisa Eisenberg is an epidemiology professor. She says they looked at the mask mandates in individual school districts and compared them to new cases among school-aged kids in each district’s county.
They saw districts without mandates had the highest case rates.
Of course, that doesn't prove the reason is the lack of mask mandates, she says.
"It might be the counties that didn't have mask rules, also didn't have a lot of other things, you know? Maybe there's more social contact happening in those counties in general. But it is the case that there's a correlation there."
New COVID cases nearly doubled for teens statewide from mid-August through early September.
And climbed almost 60 percent for kids 11 and under during that time period.