When will daycares drop the mask recommendation/requirement?

[Anonymous]

Year 3 of the pandemic and I'm just curious when folks think the daycare masking will cease? Our no longer requires masks but "strongly recommends" and probably half of the kids in DC's class still wear (which is actually a lot fewer than a couple months ago). Probably at least half of the teachers too. Will it just be the new normal for kids to spend these years masked? Illnesses still spread around the class so not sure it is doing all that much.

[Anonymous]

I don't know why so many people continue to mask, that's their problem.

But if yours doesn't require them, why worry about it? Are you or your kids afraid of being stigmatized?

[Anonymous]

Almost none of the kids at ours wear masks any more. About a third of the teachers do.

I don't think they would ever pass a rule banning masks. That doesn't seem fair to the adults who are taking on this work. I think society and people's individual preferences will keep evolving.

[Anonymous]

Ours follows MoCo guidelines. Currently most of the teachers and all of the kids are not masking.

[Anonymous]

Our MoCo daycare does not have a recommendation around masking, and I'm glad it doesn't. I know in a child care setting when that recommendation exists parents often feel a lot of pressure to follow it.

It's interesting in other settings there is often a mask recommendation and unless it is a medical setting (where it is a requirement) nobody actually wears masks. For example MoCo nature centers have signs recommending masks and the staff are mostly not wearing them (which I'm glad for). A pet peeve of mine is when they recommend them only for children's programs. Recommend them for all programs or none at all FFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our MoCo daycare does not have a recommendation around masking, and I'm glad it doesn't. I know in a child care setting when that recommendation exists parents often feel a lot of pressure to follow it.

It's interesting in other settings there is often a mask recommendation and unless it is a medical setting (where it is a requirement) nobody actually wears masks. For example MoCo nature centers have signs recommending masks and the staff are mostly not wearing them (which I'm glad for). A pet peeve of mine is when they recommend them only for children's programs. Recommend them for all programs or none at all FFS.

OP here- I agree, it introduces a sort of pressure that wouldn't be there otherwise. No public health entity is recommending masking in childcare settings that I know of. Talking to some of the teachers, they don't want to wear anymore but feel like they have to because management is recommending and so many of the kids still do. It also makes it hard to take the recommendation seriously when there's no nuance- if they had asked everyone to wear masks for a couple weeks after the holidays due to the spikes and holiday travel, fine.

Anyway, I was just curious because it seems to be a very DMV thing. We are in MD but my co-worker's kids attend a daycare in DC where masks are actually still required! That's crazy to me at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our MoCo daycare does not have a recommendation around masking, and I'm glad it doesn't. I know in a child care setting when that recommendation exists parents often feel a lot of pressure to follow it.

It's interesting in other settings there is often a mask recommendation and unless it is a medical setting (where it is a requirement) nobody actually wears masks. For example MoCo nature centers have signs recommending masks and the staff are mostly not wearing them (which I'm glad for). A pet peeve of mine is when they recommend them only for children's programs. Recommend them for all programs or none at all FFS.

OP here- I agree, it introduces a sort of pressure that wouldn't be there otherwise. No public health entity is recommending masking in childcare settings that I know of. Talking to some of the teachers, they don't want to wear anymore but feel like they have to because management is recommending and so many of the kids still do. It also makes it hard to take the recommendation seriously when there's no nuance- if they had asked everyone to wear masks for a couple weeks after the holidays due to the spikes and holiday travel, fine.

Anyway, I was just curious because it seems to be a very DMV thing. We are in MD but my co-worker's kids attend a daycare in DC where masks are actually still required! That's crazy to me at this point.

Yeah it does sound crazy. I would kind of get it if it's a daycare that serves medically vulnerable children, but even then I feel like they are vastly overestimating the effect of masking on young children.

I think at the end of the day people that don't want to mask, including teachers, should bite the bullet and not wear masks despite the pressure they may feel. This is kind of a vote with your feet situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our MoCo daycare does not have a recommendation around masking, and I'm glad it doesn't. I know in a child care setting when that recommendation exists parents often feel a lot of pressure to follow it.

It's interesting in other settings there is often a mask recommendation and unless it is a medical setting (where it is a requirement) nobody actually wears masks. For example MoCo nature centers have signs recommending masks and the staff are mostly not wearing them (which I'm glad for). A pet peeve of mine is when they recommend them only for children's programs. Recommend them for all programs or none at all FFS.

OP here- I agree, it introduces a sort of pressure that wouldn't be there otherwise. No public health entity is recommending masking in childcare settings that I know of. Talking to some of the teachers, they don't want to wear anymore but feel like they have to because management is recommending and so many of the kids still do. It also makes it hard to take the recommendation seriously when there's no nuance- if they had asked everyone to wear masks for a couple weeks after the holidays due to the spikes and holiday travel, fine.

Anyway, I was just curious because it seems to be a very DMV thing. We are in MD but my co-worker's kids attend a daycare in DC where masks are actually still required! That's crazy to me at this point.

I think it’s just a DM thing at this point. Our NOVA daycare mandated masks far longer than I would have liked but I don’t know of any in our area where a majority (or even significant minority) of students or teachers are currently still wearing them. As the parent of a child with speech issues (which I firmly believe were exacerbated by spending half her life in masked settings) this is something I would absolutely change daycares over.

[Anonymous]

uh you need a new daycare. that's messed up.

[Anonymous]

I am honestly shocked to see this because I had no idea kids were still wearing masks in daycares. That's terrible. How sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our MoCo daycare does not have a recommendation around masking, and I'm glad it doesn't. I know in a child care setting when that recommendation exists parents often feel a lot of pressure to follow it.

It's interesting in other settings there is often a mask recommendation and unless it is a medical setting (where it is a requirement) nobody actually wears masks. For example MoCo nature centers have signs recommending masks and the staff are mostly not wearing them (which I'm glad for). A pet peeve of mine is when they recommend them only for children's programs. Recommend them for all programs or none at all FFS.

OP here- I agree, it introduces a sort of pressure that wouldn't be there otherwise. No public health entity is recommending masking in childcare settings that I know of. Talking to some of the teachers, they don't want to wear anymore but feel like they have to because management is recommending and so many of the kids still do. It also makes it hard to take the recommendation seriously when there's no nuance- if they had asked everyone to wear masks for a couple weeks after the holidays due to the spikes and holiday travel, fine.

Anyway, I was just curious because it seems to be a very DMV thing. We are in MD but my co-worker's kids attend a daycare in DC where masks are actually still required! That's crazy to me at this point.

Yeah it does sound crazy. I would kind of get it if it's a daycare that serves medically vulnerable children, but even then I feel like they are vastly overestimating the effect of masking on young children.

I think at the end of the day people that don't want to mask, including teachers, should bite the bullet and not wear masks despite the pressure they may feel. This is kind of a vote with your feet situation.

This. We were in a similar situation and it was definitely weird at first to be in the minority. But it made no sense to me to continue the status quo.

[Anonymous]

There are no reasons to mask in a childcare setting. You should find a new daycare or, rally parents, so that everybody can speak up.

Do they eat inside? Do they nap? All of that is done without a mask so masking in that environment is pointless.

Honestly, I’m surprised daycares are still masking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are no reasons to mask in a childcare setting. You should find a new daycare or, rally parents, so that everybody can speak up.

Do they eat inside? Do they nap? All of that is done without a mask so masking in that environment is pointless.

Honestly, I’m surprised daycares are still masking.

How are people still this uneducated this late in the pandemic?

Cutting down exposure, either by limiting the number of people someone is exposed to (masking at times when a kid is moving around the classroom, but not when they are sleeping with probably 2 kids within a distance where transmission is more likely), or the time that they're exposed to them, absolutely reduces viral load which both decreases the likelihood of transmission, and the severity of illness.

I'm not saying that you should or shouldn't mask your kids. Masking is up to you and the decision should depend on a variety factors including the health risks of members of your household, and your tolerance for missing work and having other family members miss other commitments.

But judging people for the bolded is a sign you are clueless. It's like saying that if your child doesn't wear a seatbelt in one situation (let's say an ambulance ride) there's no point in wearing one in another situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no reasons to mask in a childcare setting. You should find a new daycare or, rally parents, so that everybody can speak up.

Do they eat inside? Do they nap? All of that is done without a mask so masking in that environment is pointless.

Honestly, I’m surprised daycares are still masking.

How are people still this uneducated this late in the pandemic?

Cutting down exposure, either by limiting the number of people someone is exposed to (masking at times when a kid is moving around the classroom, but not when they are sleeping with probably 2 kids within a distance where transmission is more likely), or the time that they're exposed to them, absolutely reduces viral load which both decreases the likelihood of transmission, and the severity of illness.

I'm not saying that you should or shouldn't mask your kids. Masking is up to you and the decision should depend on a variety factors including the health risks of members of your household, and your tolerance for missing work and having other family members miss other commitments.

But judging people for the bolded is a sign you are clueless. It's like saying that if your child doesn't wear a seatbelt in one situation (let's say an ambulance ride) there's no point in wearing one in another situation.

I get what you're saying, and I definitely know parents who feel the same way as you do, but unless the childcare environment has really good air filtration/circulation, I really find it hard to believe that the real-life transmission is meaningfully reduced over the course of an 8+ hr day in the masked vs. unmasked kids. Would love to see a study on it though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our MoCo daycare does not have a recommendation around masking, and I'm glad it doesn't. I know in a child care setting when that recommendation exists parents often feel a lot of pressure to follow it.

It's interesting in other settings there is often a mask recommendation and unless it is a medical setting (where it is a requirement) nobody actually wears masks. For example MoCo nature centers have signs recommending masks and the staff are mostly not wearing them (which I'm glad for). A pet peeve of mine is when they recommend them only for children's programs. Recommend them for all programs or none at all FFS.

OP here- I agree, it introduces a sort of pressure that wouldn't be there otherwise. No public health entity is recommending masking in childcare settings that I know of. Talking to some of the teachers, they don't want to wear anymore but feel like they have to because management is recommending and so many of the kids still do. It also makes it hard to take the recommendation seriously when there's no nuance- if they had asked everyone to wear masks for a couple weeks after the holidays due to the spikes and holiday travel, fine.

Anyway, I was just curious because it seems to be a very DMV thing. We are in MD but my co-worker's kids attend a daycare in DC where masks are actually still required! That's crazy to me at this point.

I think it’s just a DM thing at this point. Our NOVA daycare mandated masks far longer than I would have liked but I don’t know of any in our area where a majority (or even significant minority) of students or teachers are currently still wearing them. As the parent of a child with speech issues (which I firmly believe were exacerbated by spending half her life in masked settings) this is something I would absolutely change daycares over.

In my DD's VA daycare, I would say at least half of the kids in her class regularly mask. It is not mandatory. It doesn't bother me either way.