Masks optional by spring break

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truly sick individuals on this thread are evil through and through. You need to ask yourself why someone would advocate for unmasking before the pandemic is over.

I think they just want to see just how stupid Americans are?

Or they’re in intense denial and the mask is a sign of the pandemic they want to just go away. Masks reduce risk of transmission - every reputable public health agency in the world supports mask wearing. It’s not about protecting yourself, it’s about protecting others. Why this is even in debate is bizarre. But here we are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Masks will need to come off because parents will demand it. And if MoCo continues to delay as the rest of the country returns to normal, we’ve already decided we will move as two high earners who can work from home. We will also pull our kids if they try and enforce that N95 nonsense. And masking is having a negative impact on our young child, her teachers have commented on it. She’s a different person, withdrawn and not as responsive. Experts agree this is terrible for kids psychologically.

Parents "demand" lots of things they don't get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The truly sick individuals on this thread are evil through and through. You need to ask yourself why someone would advocate for unmasking before the pandemic is over.

I think they just want to see just how stupid Americans are?

Or they’re in intense denial and the mask is a sign of the pandemic they want to just go away. Masks reduce risk of transmission - every reputable public health agency in the world supports mask wearing. It’s not about protecting yourself, it’s about protecting others. Why this is even in debate is bizarre. But here we are.

Not for kids they don't. Europe will be dropping masks well before MCPS. And
elementary schools didn't ever have students wear masks
in many places.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think you only care about yourself and even that is questionable.

I care deeply about my kids who’ve suffered enough. Kindergartners shouldn’t have been masked in the first place in my (unpopular) opinion. But now that we have vaccines! Hospitalizations are low. Cases numbers are declining. Let’s do this! Other children can still mask if they want to.

1800 Americans died yesterday.

I’m not masking my fully vaccinated child to protect the unvaccinated in other parts of the country. The immunodeficient people have the vaccine, boosters, n95s. The situation won’t change for them and my child should not bear the burden.

Thank you for saying that. My sentiments, exactly. I don't care at all whether others choose to get the vaccine or not, but none of us should have to keep masking to protect those who choose not to get the shot. It's time to move forward. We are one of only a few jurisdictions across the country that are still masking.

This. Why are we so behind the curve here in MoCo? One of the last districts to have our kids back to school in person and now one of the last districts forcing 7 year olds to mask all day at school. This is embarrassing, considering we are a county full of such supposedly well-educated adults.

You are so right!
In the first wave, Maryland reached 64 deaths/day at its peak, last year MD reached 50 deaths/day at the peak, and this year it reached only 65.
All well-educated adults should be able to see that now things do not justify the use of such harsh measures like masks.

Troll, crazy, or just fanatic?

2/3 of hospitalizations have been unvaccinated. Omicron has not been deadlier than previous strains, it has been more transmissible. More people infected equals more unvaccinated people dying. In maryland more than 80% of fatalities has been in unvaccinated.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/pdfs/mm7104e2-H.pdf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/25/omicron-covid-virus-deaths/

We don't have actual numbers for spread as many are using home kits and not reporting it.

So that then just reinforces the point that omicron has been the least deadly wave. #deaths/# of infections gives you the rate. If the denominator is high the rate is lower than in a wave where denominator is small. Regardless, deaths and hospitalizations have been driven by the unvaccinated. Nothing to do with kids.

It was just reported another child died in VA. I'm sure you'll find some reasons to pretend it didn't happen.

We generally have about 6 deaths per year from infectious causes in the 0-11 age group. In the 2 years of the pandemic we had 4 deaths from Covid in the same age category

[Anonymous]

We generally have about 6 deaths per year from infectious causes in the 0-11 age group. In the 2 years of the pandemic we had 4 deaths from Covid in the same age category

There are thousands of "infectious causes". Covid is just one, so percentage-wise you're helping prove the point.

Immediate death is not the biggest concern for this age group. It's whether long-term scarring of lungs will put these kids on supplemental oxygen by the time they're 40?

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/what-coronavirus-does-to-the-lungs

But you already know this, right? This is what, deep down, you really want to have happen? Go on, admit it. Who would know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We generally have about 6 deaths per year from infectious causes in the 0-11 age group. In the 2 years of the pandemic we had 4 deaths from Covid in the same age category

There are thousands of "infectious causes". Covid is just one, so percentage-wise you're helping prove the point.

Immediate death is not the biggest concern for this age group. It's whether long-term scarring of lungs will put these kids on supplemental oxygen by the time they're 40?

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/what-coronavirus-does-to-the-lungs

But you already know this, right? This is what, deep down, you really want to have happen? Go on, admit it. Who would know?

Omicron is an upper respiratory infection there is no “scarring of the lungs”.

[Anonymous]

I think masks are here to stay in mcps. But i agree its mainly theatre, esp in highly vaccinated areas like ours. This is the Maryland county level data cited in the Atlantic article from a few days ago.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10y0sADjoX66gL5kVvT_pMvgeG2lsuZVd/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=103728660533615016193&rtpof=true&sd=true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We generally have about 6 deaths per year from infectious causes in the 0-11 age group. In the 2 years of the pandemic we had 4 deaths from Covid in the same age category

There are thousands of "infectious causes". Covid is just one, so percentage-wise you're helping prove the point.

Immediate death is not the biggest concern for this age group. It's whether long-term scarring of lungs will put these kids on supplemental oxygen by the time they're 40?

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/what-coronavirus-does-to-the-lungs

But you already know this, right? This is what, deep down, you really want to have happen? Go on, admit it. Who would know?

Omicron is an upper respiratory infection there is no “scarring of the lungs”.

In addition there is no scarring of the lungs if there is no pneumonia. Look you want to inflate the risk to children. I get it. It’s scary. But the fact remains that the risk to children is minuscule. This is a new infectious disease that we have to learn to live with. If you prefer to continue wearing a mask indefinitely go ahead. The rest of us are going to move toward normalcy because we are rational people.

[Anonymous]

This CDC report says that Covid was 1.7% of all deaths in children. And that long covid is NOT prevalent in children, studies estimating that symptoms lasting over 6 weeks happen in 7-8% of children. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2021-11-2-3/03-COVID-Jefferson-508.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We generally have about 6 deaths per year from infectious causes in the 0-11 age group. In the 2 years of the pandemic we had 4 deaths from Covid in the same age category

There are thousands of "infectious causes". Covid is just one, so percentage-wise you're helping prove the point.

Immediate death is not the biggest concern for this age group. It's whether long-term scarring of lungs will put these kids on supplemental oxygen by the time they're 40?

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/what-coronavirus-does-to-the-lungs

But you already know this, right? This is what, deep down, you really want to have happen? Go on, admit it. Who would know?

Omicron is an upper respiratory infection there is no “scarring of the lungs”.

In addition there is no scarring of the lungs if there is no pneumonia. Look you want to inflate the risk to children. I get it. It’s scary. But the fact remains that the risk to children is minuscule. This is a new infectious disease that we have to learn to live with. If you prefer to continue wearing a mask indefinitely go ahead. The rest of us are going to move toward normalcy because we are rational people.

The scarring of the lungs is just one of many possible Long COVID symptoms. COVID infects many, many locations in the body - including brain, ear, blood vessel linings, brain cells, etc. I have a child with long Covid who had only mild illness at home. I am experiencing a child with major brain fog and cognitive difficulties, from which, eventual recovery is not guaranteed. Long term, I am worried about things like early dementia, Parkinson’s-like disease, dysautonomic diseases, increased stroke risk, and re-awakening of EBV leading to MS. I am a “rational person” and all of these are risks which are beginning to appear in the literature about long term COVID effects. COVID is no joke.

You say the risk to children is minimal, but the reality is that we have no idea what the Long COVID risk is. IME, it is significant and varied. The long term risk of hospitalization and death may be low, but it feels to me, as the parent of someone with Long COVID that you are trading your child’s increased comfort unmasked for my child’s long term disability. The cost I am paying is worth it to you to continue your life as it was in the before times.

I hope we don’t go back to being unmasked until we have a vaccine that is 90% or more effective against infection, as well as widely available rapid testing and treatments which are available to all via all local pharmacies and which kill the virus effectively everywhere in the body.

No one in my family considers masking to be anything more than a minor inconvenience. We are all rational, science-based people. Living with a new infectious disease does not mean living unprotected from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This CDC report says that Covid was 1.7% of all deaths in children. And that long covid is NOT prevalent in children, studies estimating that symptoms lasting over 6 weeks happen in 7-8% of children. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2021-11-2-3/03-COVID-Jefferson-508.pdf

Actually, the stat in the study is 7-8% have symptoms for more than 12 weeks. And it doesn’t say NOT prevalent. You have headed that. Prevalence is simply a measure of the disease appearance per population. Additionally, those numbers are from a UK study done in April 2021, when the rate of childhood COVID overall was much lower than it has been through Omicron, and these small numbers make it difficult to accurately assess long term diffuse symptoms. Given that we are barely 4 weeks through the Omicron wave, we probably have no idea of true long term prevalence.

While it’s true that the majority of people won’t get Long COVID, even 7-8% of cases resulting in Long COVID is significant, particularly if you expect that “everyone will get it, so we just have to live with it.” If every kid at my DC’s high school of 2500 gets COVID eventually, @7-8% prevalence, that’s 200 kids left with Long COVID.

[Anonymous]

Please no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think masks are here to stay in mcps. But i agree its mainly theatre, esp in highly vaccinated areas like ours. This is the Maryland county level data cited in the Atlantic article from a few days ago.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10y0sADjoX66gL5kVvT_pMvgeG2lsuZVd/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=103728660533615016193&rtpof=true&sd=true

One thing I'd caution "both sides" to be cautious of is the data around vaccination rates when it comes to kids. Early in the pandemic, you saw big gaps between vaccination rates in zip codes, reflecting access and the difficulty of getting vaccines at the beginning. Then, over time, those rates evened out and MoCo became a "highly vaccinated" area due to the increased availability of the vaccine but also tremendous efforts to get the vaccine to some of the most marginalized residents of our county.

But that gap is opening again, and it appears to be due to wildly different rates of vaccination for kids. Despite outreach and easy availability, there are specific communities that are not getting their kids vaccinated. Without a vaccine mandate in MCPS, there's no way of tracking the numbers but anecdotally, I'd guess my kids' ES is less than 25 percent vaccinated despite every kid being eligible.

As a result, I think we need to be careful because a bunch of unmaked unvaccinated kids would be bad for everyone, including vaccinated adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This CDC report says that Covid was 1.7% of all deaths in children. And that long covid is NOT prevalent in children, studies estimating that symptoms lasting over 6 weeks happen in 7-8% of children. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2021-11-2-3/03-COVID-Jefferson-508.pdf

The point you're trying to make is that 1.7% dead children won't litter the streets with bodies, so it's not a big deal?

You're a scary mommy.

[Anonymous]

Kids are getting tired of masks in school. Compliance has gone down. Makes sense to make them optional by spring break