What face coverings are you putting on your Elementary kids for DCPS in-person hybrid?

[Anonymous]

I teach in person. Recently I starting doubling my 2 layer cloth masks. I carry hand sanitizer, keep the windows open and use the air purifier.

So far so good.

[Anonymous]

My kid is going back with the Athleta mask she's been wearing for a while. It has a head strap so it doesn't bother her ears. I'm also putting some hand sanitizer in her lunch box. Thats about it. It didn't occur to me to buy goggles or gloves. If you're that worries I wonder if going back to school is right for you.

[Anonymous]

Happy Mask - it has a built in filter and adjustable straps. Its shape allows you to talk freely. We use it for sports too, they are great.
https://www.happymasks.com/

[Anonymous]

Surgical mask. They are supposed to be more filtering than one layer cloth masks. Not sure about n95. As someone said they are for adults and many are counterfeit. I'm going to let her decide about the face shield/goggles. I think it would be a good idea for the kids to wear face shields or goggles, but it would be easier if all of the kids did the same thing, and I am not sure of other parents would find this too much. People should realize that the kids need two masks to go to school all day for the masks to function as they should. They should be changed after four hours. Good luck everyone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is going back with the Athleta mask she's been wearing for a while. It has a head strap so it doesn't bother her ears. I'm also putting some hand sanitizer in her lunch box. Thats about it. It didn't occur to me to buy goggles or gloves. If you're that worries I wonder if going back to school is right for you.

My kid's going back with some mask that has cats on it or something. He seems to like it, and it's comfortable.

The perfect shouldn't be the enemy of the good enough.

[Anonymous]

Where are you all buying the kids surgical masks? I have kids paper dust masks. I have cotton and polyester masks with pm 2.5 filters but am torn between the two- the polyester filters less well (will everything just go around the filter) but fits tightly while the cotton filters slightly better but doesn’t fit as well. I’d have them wear the surgical underneath if I was confident in the quality.

[jsteele]

Full disclosure, I am an investor (very minor) in this company, but here is a link for child sized surgical masks made in the US:

https://www.armbrustusa.com/products/child-surgical-masks?variant=34779748270213

[Anonymous]

Check out the youtube videos of the guy testing different brands of KF94 masks. They're just below N95 quality filtering and from South Korea, so perhaps a bit less likely to be counterfeit. I've found many brands that sell these have kid sized masks. It's the first mask that's fit and stayed put for my 5-year-old. All the cloth ones just slip off her ears constantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where are you all buying the kids surgical masks? I have kids paper dust masks. I have cotton and polyester masks with pm 2.5 filters but am torn between the two- the polyester filters less well (will everything just go around the filter) but fits tightly while the cotton filters slightly better but doesn’t fit as well. I’d have them wear the surgical underneath if I was confident in the quality.

Target has them - with designs too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine will double mask with a cloth two layer mask and a kids size surgical mask. I’m afraid a face shield may be a distraction so I bought some goggles (sports ones, not swimming) for my DD to wear. Anyone asking their kids to wear gloves?

My 5th grader will be wearing a 2-layer cloth mask with a PM 2.5 filter in it. She has 4 and will bring 2 to school each day. She also has bluescreen glasses, which she will continue to wear because they will still be doing a lot on screens. I am not getting face shields or requiring gloves. We have been teaching DD to avoid touching her face and to wash her hands frequently for the entire pandemic. By this point, she knows what she's doing. The mask and the distancing at school is enough to reduce an awful lot of transmission without adding face shields and gloves.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence that these work.

"The American Academy of Ophthalmology says you don’t need them and has gone on record as not recommending any kind of special eyewear for computer users. The organization says blue light from digital devices does not lead to eye disease and doesn’t even cause eyestrain. The problems people complain about are simply caused by overuse of digital devices, it says."

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210115/do-blue-light-glasses-work

My kid has been in-person for a couple of months (we moved from DCPS a while ago). We usually do Athleta Girl Masks, no gloves or anything else. There is a TON of handwashing, though.

It's not about eye disease. Seeing blue light all the time disrupts your circadian rhythm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where are you all buying the kids surgical masks? I have kids paper dust masks. I have cotton and polyester masks with pm 2.5 filters but am torn between the two- the polyester filters less well (will everything just go around the filter) but fits tightly while the cotton filters slightly better but doesn’t fit as well. I’d have them wear the surgical underneath if I was confident in the quality.

I found kid size ones on Amazon.

No way would my kids wear an N95 mask all day, they are so uncomfortable and hard to breathe in.

[Anonymous]

My child is in public school in another state, they've been open for some time and have run smoothly. We use child-sized Vistaprint masks with Vistaprint filters. As I've experimented with different masks they're less my favorite than they used to be, but they are now the only ones my child will wear, and that's important. I personally like the Beau Ties masks which are three-layer instead of two, and also come in a child size.

We dispose of the filter every day and carefully put the mask in the washing machine right away and then wash our hands.

[Anonymous]

My kids like the old navy ones. Been wearing all day at private school and camp this whole time.

[Anonymous]

And target too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids like the old navy ones. Been wearing all day at private school and camp this whole time.

+1 on Old Navy. The best masks are the ones they will keep on and not fiddle with. As someone said upthread, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.