佐治亚州州长候选人斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯周二在亚特兰大郊外的一所小学拍摄了一些照片，这些照片拍下了她没有戴面具的照片，随后她道歉了。
艾布拉姆斯在美国有线电视新闻网上说:“协议很重要，保护我们的孩子是最重要的事情，任何可能被视为破坏协议的行为都是错误的，我道歉。
据她说，艾布拉姆斯戴着面具去学校，她在那里宣传阅读和黑人历史月，她在讲台上摘下面具，这样观众就能听到她运动。她还摘下来和孩子们合影，他们都戴着面具。
共和党人——包括她的挑战者、现任共和党州长布莱恩·坎普——分发了她在蒙面儿童中无面罩坐着的照片，他们用这张照片抨击了她在包括面罩授权在内的COVID缓解协议上被认为的虚伪。
本周早些时候，坎普在推特上说:“斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯希望州政府对格鲁吉亚人和他们的孩子进行口罩授权。”他还在推特上重新发布了这张照片。“但看起来她参加摄影活动时，他们不会申请。”
同样参加佐治亚州州长竞选的共和党前参议员大卫·珀杜借此机会抨击了艾布拉姆斯，他在推特上写道，“自由主义者在疫情期间对权力的渴望给我们的孩子造成了巨大的伤害，而像史黛西这样的精英继续过着他们的生活。"
濮培德还发布了一个简短的广告抨击艾布拉姆斯不戴面具，并敦促孩子们在学校不戴面具。
争议始于该校校长霍利·布鲁金斯博士在一条被删除的推文中分享了艾布拉姆斯的多张照片，其中包括她不戴口罩坐在旁边的照片蒙面儿童，并写道，学校对接待这位候选人感到“激动”。艾布拉姆斯转发了它，并感谢她的邀请。
周二，艾布拉姆斯上了美国有线电视新闻网，承认戴口罩是一个错误。
布林·安德森/美联社档案
2020年11月2日，斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯在亚特兰大的竞选集会上对拜登的支持者讲话。
虽然她道歉了，但艾布拉姆斯说，这个问题很复杂，不应该被用作政治棍棒。
艾布拉姆斯的竞选经理劳伦·格罗-沃戈(Lauren Groh-Wargo)在推特上发布了竞选活动对她的共和党对手的回应，称“我们的对手利用佐治亚州儿童的黑人历史月阅读活动作为虚假政治攻击的动力，这是可耻的……”
Groh-Wargo随后也发了一条推文，称艾布拉姆斯“相信科学，支持学校里的掩蔽，因为这是疾控中心目前的建议。”
对艾布拉姆斯的强烈反对是在学校围绕口罩的讨论加剧，几个州放松口罩的时候发生的要求对学生来说。
康涅狄格州、特拉华州、新泽西州和俄勒冈州的官员最近宣布了未来几周放宽学校口罩要求的时间表。
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但是随着各州开始放宽学校对口罩的要求，疾控中心主任罗谢尔·瓦伦斯基在接受采访时说路透社该机构关于学校掩蔽的政策没有改变，疾控中心继续“支持学校普遍掩蔽。”
Stacey Abrams apologizes for going maskless at Atlanta school
Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams apologized Tuesday following the fallout from photos that captured her maskless at an elementary school outside of Atlanta.
"Protocols matter, and protecting our kids is the most important thing, and anything that can be perceived as undermining that is a mistake, and I apologize," Abrams said on CNN.
Abrams wore a mask to the school, where she was promoting reading and Black History Month, and she took it off at the podium so that those in the audience could hear her, according to hercampaign. She also took it off for photos with the children, all of whom were masked.
The photo of her sitting maskless among masked kids was circulated by Republicans -- including her challenger incumbent GOP Gov. Brian Kemp -- who used it to slam her perceived hypocrisy on COVID mitigation protocols including mask mandates.
"Stacey Abrams wants state government mask mandates for Georgians and their children," Kemp said on Twitter, where he also reshared the photo, earlier this week. "But it looks like they wouldn't apply when she's attending a photo op."
Former Sen. David Perdue, a Republican also running in Georgia's gubernatorial race, took the opportunity to take a jab at Abrams, tweeting that "liberals' thirst for power during this pandemic has caused enormous damage to our kids, while the elite like Stacey continue living their lives."
Perdue also released a shortadattacking Abrams for going maskless and pushing for kids to be unmasked in schools.
The controversy started when, in a since-deleted tweet, the school's principal, Dr. Holly Brookins, shared multiple photos of Abrams, including her sitting maskless and alongsidemasked children, and wrote that the school was "thrilled" to host the candidate. Abrams retweeted it and thanked her for the invitation.
On Tuesday, Abrams went on CNN and admitted going maskless was a mistake.
While she apologized, Abrams said the issue is complicated and should not be used as a political cudgel.
Abrams' campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo tweeted the campaign's response to her Republican opponents, saying that "it's shameful that our opponents are using a Black History Month reading event for Georgia children as the impetus for false political attack…"
Groh-Wargo also followed up with a tweet saying that Abrams "trusts science and supports masking in schools as it's the current CDC recommendation."
The backlash against Abrams comes as the conversation surrounding masks in schools intensifies and several states loosen their maskrequirementsfor students.
Officials in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and Oregon recently announced timelines for easing school mask requirements in the coming weeks.
But as states begin to ease mask requirements in schools, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in an interview withReutersthat the agency's policy on masking in schools has not changed and that the CDC continues "to endorse universal masking in schools."
