When should DC drop its school mask mandate?

[Anonymous]

I have been more covid cautious than most these past 2 yrs, but I am admittedly getting very weary of seeing my 4 year old masked and going into school these days. Do you think DC will follow suit to some of the other states, namely New Jersey and Delaware at this point, in reconsidering the mask mandate in schools? I am beginning to think of the social and behavioral consequences of my 4 yr old and her teachers masked all day at school. I can't imagine it's good. And if not now, when? I am already hearing about a subvariant of omicron rising in places like Denmark.

[Anonymous]

Immediately

[Anonymous]

I’m sure DC will be among the last to drop so I’m not holding my breath. At most, I think we might see dropping it for outdoor activities / drop off/ pick up as that’s really just COVID theatre.

[Anonymous]

You do know that rates in DC are still higher than they were for the ENTIRE PANDEMIC prior to the omicron wave, right?

[Anonymous]

Immediately.

Variants will continue to emerge for the foreseeable future.

For almost everyone, the cumulative costs of masking (inhibiting communication, creating physical barrier to expression) outweigh the health benefits at this point.

[Anonymous]

God could they at least drop the outdoor masks?!

[Anonymous]

I'm in favor of dropping it at the end of February but realistically it seems the end of the school year seems like the earliest it might happen. So hard to pull these things back but if they don't do it this year, it won't happen for decades.

[Anonymous]

Immediately for all vaccinated students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do know that rates in DC are still higher than they were for the ENTIRE PANDEMIC prior to the omicron wave, right?

To me, this just twists the knife on how ridiculous the entire 2020-21 school year. The failure to enter the classroom that entire year was just so, so awful and unnecessary for the entire DCPS student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God could they at least drop the outdoor masks?!

+1. It's INSANE.

[Anonymous]

There's no way this happens before the end of the school year. There isn't a second political party to keep any of this in check, either actively or through the threat of getting elected.

[Anonymous]

How about tomorrow?

[Anonymous]

Relevant to this thread:
https://newrepublic.com/article/165306/face-masks-dont-harm-kids-development

[Anonymous]

I think it’ll stick around for the rest of the school year. Keeping my fingers crossed that they won’t require them next year. I’d rather stay masked in school than have my kids home for virtual learning.

[Anonymous]

I think we should band together as ECE parents and ask:

1) Drop the mask mandate for this age group when cases are low
2) No outdoor mask requirement at all (not for kids during recess, not for parents during drop off)
3) The only masks that will ever be required ar K95s, and the school will provide these when they are needed during a surge in cases

The masks are a joke for this age group anyway. They take them off for snacks, lunch, and rest time. Many kids are wearing cloth or surgical masks that don't fit, and they slip off or the kids are messing with them or they get wet and become useless. Teachers are having to spend a lot of time monitoring mask use, making sure kids don't lose them, checking on mask fit, etc. And is it really protecting anyone? Given the level of mask use I see in my kid's PK class, and the number of non-Covid viruses that have swept through the class throughout the year -- no.

Kids can't hear each other, and the teachers can't hear them. There is a cost, and it gets higher the longer it goes on.

I'd like to see us go mask optional by April, by fall at the very very latest. I actually think many teachers would be on board with this based on conversations with my kid's teacher.

I think we need to get noisy and ask for a reasonable policy that actually reflects how children this age wear masks, what their actual Covid risk is (very low) and what the experience of kids in this district have been in terms of Covid spread (any of your kids have any Covid spread in your classroom? We have not and there have been kids with Covid in our class, as well as kids with sibling with Covid).