KENTUCKY — After Republicans in Frankfort voted to ban statewide mask mandates in a COVID-19 special legislative session, the status of mask wearing in schools was anything but certain. Now, days after the law passed, nearly 50% of Kentucky's 171 school districts have signaled they'll continue requiring masks, according to the Kentucky School Boards Association (KSBA).

The KSBA shared their findings via Twitter Tuesday morning. The account has been diligently sharing each and every mask announcement from Kentucky school boards.

On Monday, the KSBA said there are at least 41 districts that have paused in-person learning this year due to COVID-19.

With the passage of Senate Bill 1, state legislators kicked the decision of mask mandates back to individual school districts, effectively banning statewide mask mandates until at least 2023. Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass said the bill weakens the state's virus mitigation efforts.

"This law does not go far enough in providing the flexibility in different school models that our schools need," Glass said in a statement. "Further, the politically-motivated effort to remove masking requirements in public schools weakens our virus mitigation efforts as a state at the very time they are needed most."

"We will be working with Kentucky’s school districts as they continue to try to keep students in school safely and do our best to manage the consequences of the decisions made by our legislature in this special session," he added.

Less than 24 hours after SB1, KSBA said 31 districts announced they'll stick to mask wearing. Counties including Woodford, Jefferson, Kenton and Oldham are still requiring masks for all students, staff and visitors.

Gov. Andy Beshear (D) used a football analogy to slam the legislature’s actions, especially in nullifying the state school board’s requirement that anyone in public K-12 schools wear a mask. The Republican-backed measure shifted masking decisions to local school boards.

“The masking decision the General Assembly made was wrong. And it was also a punt,” Beshear said on Friday. “I’ve been willing to make the calls, to take the hits, to make the plays. And the legislature asked to go in ... at QB. And what did they do? They punted on first down. When you’re in charge, it means you’ve got to make the decision. This one was to push the decision to others.”

Supporters of ending the statewide school mask requirement said those decisions are best left to local school boards, to reflect the will of their communities. They said they have confidence in the ability of local school leaders to set those rules.