With clashing court rulings and angry parent protests, agitation over COVID-19 is building in Fort Worth and other parts of the state.

The Fort Worth school board had a turn in the spotlight last week and will return there on Tuesday night, when trustees meet to determine how to respond to a judge barring the district from requiring masks.

It won’t be the last word. The conflict could stretch on a while as various court cases determine whether Gov. Greg Abbott can prevent mask mandates under his emergency powers.

It’s a fight Abbott is probably destined to win. Still, it’s frustrating that as hospitals fill and health-care workers stretch themselves to the limit, Abbott won’t relent and let local governments decide what’s best under their particular circumstances.

Fort Worth school trustees should steel themselves to fight the legal battle as long as possible. At this point, the best they can probably hope for is to buy a few weeks for the worst of the delta variant to pass.

And with any luck, that will be enough time to make a substantial difference. Texas is plodding along, but vaccinations administered statewide have been around 500,000 a week in recent weeks, a level not seen since June. The dangerously fast spread of the delta variant may be driving some of the hesitant to change their minds.

If that trend can continue for a few more weeks, projections show, the current wave will subside.

Leaders everywhere should relentlessly drive home this simple truth: Getting vaccinated is the best way to avoid the worst outcomes of COVID. Nearly all serious cases and deaths from COVID are among those who haven’t been inoculated.

As many parents have requested, FWISD trustees should also revisit the decision to have no virtual schooling available this year. No one should be blind to the limits of online education, especially in the Fort Worth district, which saw alarming drops in achievement in the pandemic year.

But it may make sense to have a temporary option available for medically vulnerable children or families with other members who are immuno-compromised. It might require weeks to set up and cause disruptions for many teachers. But it would beat shutting down schools entirely, as at least one West Texas district decided to do Monday.

Education officials have also lamented that the Legislature didn’t provide funding for virtual options. But school districts are sitting on piles of cash from federal COVID relief, and much of the technology needed has already been purchased.

As we navigate the latest COVID surge, everyone needs to take a deep breath and be sober, but realistic, about the threats ahead. Some of those demanding action on masks and virtual schooling have portrayed school board members as child-killers. Protesters even staged a mock funeral outside board President Tobi Jackson’s home this weekend.

Children are still at almost zero risk of dying from COVID, and the delta variant appears less lethal overall, even as it spreads more efficiently. Balancing the needs of education and virus mitigation is a judgment call, and those who use maudlin, emotional screeds to gloss over difficult choices aren’t advancing their cause.

The biggest concern is that our hospitals are stretched to the limit, which endangers us all. Between COVID and another illness spreading among kids, RSV, Cook Children’s Medical Center is stressed. That’s a problem for the whole community and part of what drove FWISD leaders to defy the governor to begin with.

Masks have become the battleground. Mandate or not, individuals should wear them. But vaccination is the real way out.