The back-and-forth between Gov. Tom Wolf's administration and those who oppose masks in schools continued Tuesday, as the state attorney general filed an emergency application to reinstate the school mask mandate.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed the action in Pennsylvania Supreme Court on behalf of Alison Beam, acting health secretary, asking the court to immediately reinstate the mask mandate as the court deliberates whether the mandate was legal.

Butler County attorney Tom King, representing several parents and schools, filed action asking Commonwealth Court to strike down the mask mandate, which was granted Nov. 10.

But before the mask opposition could celebrate, Shapiro immediately appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.

The appeal meant the mask mandate would continue until the appeal was decided by the court.

King filed a request Nov. 11 to set aside the requirement to reinstate the mask mandate until the decision on the appeal was made.

That request was granted Nov. 16, but the permission to remove masks until the appeal was decided does not take effect until Dec. 4.

That is four days before the court is scheduled to hear the appeal.

“This is an error the Commonwealth Court has made previously, and this court ... has corrected previously,” the latest filing states.

But on Tuesday, Shapiro continued the volley by asking the state Supreme Court to reinstate the requirement that students, teachers, faculty and visitors continue to wear masks in schools until the court decides on his appeal of the mask mandate being thrown out.

The latest volley states that the mask mandate must continue as the court decides on the appeal because it “is needed to protect the health and lives of Pennsylvania's school children and their families, and to prevent schools in the commonwealth from becoming COVID-19 super-spreader sites in the run-up to the winter holiday season, when many people travel.”

It also insists that without the requirement for masks to be worn in schools until the appeal is decided, “children will unnecessarily become sick.”

Wolf announced Nov. 8 that the school mask mandate would be lifted and districts could make their own decisions on masks on Jan. 17.