Masking policy Arlington Diocesan Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know who to reach out to in the diocese to express concern about this decision? I am reconsidering my enrollment in our parish school if I cannot trust the diocese to make common sense decisions during a massive surge.


Even Stafford county is continuing with a mask mandate

Do you attend church? Masks optional for awhile now without issue.

Have you expressed your concern to the diocese over that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know who to reach out to in the diocese to express concern about this decision? I am reconsidering my enrollment in our parish school if I cannot trust the diocese to make common sense decisions during a massive surge.


Even Stafford county is continuing with a mask mandate

I would start with Joe Vorbach, Superintendent of Schools. He is the signatory on the letter.

https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/catholic-schools/catholic-schools-office/

[Anonymous]

We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. Our kids have spent a year and a half of their childhoods wearing useless cloth masks over their faces.

Vaccines are available for anyone who wants one.

COVID is here to stay; it’s already mutated into a highly-transmissible (hello, silly cloth masks!) but far less serious virus on par with the flu. It is far less of a threat to children than countless other risks and diseases which we have learned to live.

Anyone who is still concerned now has access to PPE (n95 masks, face shields, latex gloves) and can make use of that. The era of dictating to other people’s children about this stuff is over.

I think what’s really irking people is that compliance with mask and vaccine mandates has become a political thing. Thank God that the Arlington Diocese has done the right thing and trusted parents to make the choice that’s right for their family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know who to reach out to in the diocese to express concern about this decision? I am reconsidering my enrollment in our parish school if I cannot trust the diocese to make common sense decisions during a massive surge.


Even Stafford county is continuing with a mask mandate

Oh well if “even Stafford County” (public schools) are continuing with a mask mandate, it must be the right decision. 🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know who to reach out to in the diocese to express concern about this decision? I am reconsidering my enrollment in our parish school if I cannot trust the diocese to make common sense decisions during a massive surge.


Even Stafford county is continuing with a mask mandate

Do you attend church? Masks optional for awhile now without issue.

Have you expressed your concern to the diocese over that?

Of course they don’t. I cannot imagine thinking that God is going to strike you down because you went to church or Catholic school without a mask. Trust in the Lord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. Our kids have spent a year and a half of their childhoods wearing useless cloth masks over their faces.

Vaccines are available for anyone who wants one.

COVID is here to stay; it’s already mutated into a highly-transmissible (hello, silly cloth masks!) but far less serious virus on par with the flu. It is far less of a threat to children than countless other risks and diseases which we have learned to live.

Anyone who is still concerned now has access to PPE (n95 masks, face shields, latex gloves) and can make use of that. The era of dictating to other people’s children about this stuff is over.

I think what’s really irking people is that compliance with mask and vaccine mandates has become a political thing. Thank God that the Arlington Diocese has done the right thing and trusted parents to make the choice that’s right for their family.

WELL SAID. The mask nuts need to move on. It’s over. Get a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. Our kids have spent a year and a half of their childhoods wearing useless cloth masks over their faces.

Vaccines are available for anyone who wants one.

COVID is here to stay; it’s already mutated into a highly-transmissible (hello, silly cloth masks!) but far less serious virus on par with the flu. It is far less of a threat to children than countless other risks and diseases which we have learned to live.

Anyone who is still concerned now has access to PPE (n95 masks, face shields, latex gloves) and can make use of that. The era of dictating to other people’s children about this stuff is over.

I think what’s really irking people is that compliance with mask and vaccine mandates has become a political thing. Thank God that the Arlington Diocese has done the right thing and trusted parents to make the choice that’s right for their family.

WELL SAID. The mask nuts need to move on. It’s over. Get a life.

Don’t complain when your kid has to stay home for five days when a classmate tests positive. Also, do not make extra work for teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know who to reach out to in the diocese to express concern about this decision? I am reconsidering my enrollment in our parish school if I cannot trust the diocese to make common sense decisions during a massive surge.


Even Stafford county is continuing with a mask mandate

Do you attend church? Masks optional for awhile now without issue.

Have you expressed your concern to the diocese over that?

Of course. I contacted them, expressed my concerns over the lack of concern for life, stopped my contributions, and stopped attending. But children need to attend school. And we should be doing what we can to keep it open during a surge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it’s so hard to retain teachers, why do they keep increasing class size so much? 20 to 23 to 27 in last three years.

Umm. Because they cannot find enough qualified teachers.

[Anonymous]

Do those of you who keep talking about the virus mutating into a mild form understand that Omicron is just one of many possible variants - for example, it did not directly mutate from Delta?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. Our kids have spent a year and a half of their childhoods wearing useless cloth masks over their faces.

Vaccines are available for anyone who wants one.

COVID is here to stay; it’s already mutated into a highly-transmissible (hello, silly cloth masks!) but far less serious virus on par with the flu. It is far less of a threat to children than countless other risks and diseases which we have learned to live.

Anyone who is still concerned now has access to PPE (n95 masks, face shields, latex gloves) and can make use of that. The era of dictating to other people’s children about this stuff is over.

I think what’s really irking people is that compliance with mask and vaccine mandates has become a political thing. Thank God that the Arlington Diocese has done the right thing and trusted parents to make the choice that’s right for their family.

WELL SAID. The mask nuts need to move on. It’s over. Get a life.

Don’t complain when your kid has to stay home for five days when a classmate tests positive. Also, do not make extra work for teachers.

It’s funny you say that, because this already happened to us while the mask requirement was in place. These masks do not stop people from getting COVID; they just don’t.

No peer-reviewed scientific studies—the kinds with control groups etc.—have shown any appreciable benefit to wearing the cloth masks that our kids have been wearing for a year and a half. And any parent knows how unrealistic it is to even expect young kids to even properly wear these masks for a full school day; and then consider all the exceptions (no masks for lunchtime, no masks while enabled in physical exercise, no masks while drinking) which would have to be factored into the analysis as well.

And even if there were some marginal benefit of masking, it must be weighed against the obvious negatives and potential harm that years of masking might inflict on the mental, social, and psychological health of children. Where are the scientific studies to show that masking is safe, or quantifying these other emotional/mental health risks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. Our kids have spent a year and a half of their childhoods wearing useless cloth masks over their faces.

Vaccines are available for anyone who wants one.

COVID is here to stay; it’s already mutated into a highly-transmissible (hello, silly cloth masks!) but far less serious virus on par with the flu. It is far less of a threat to children than countless other risks and diseases which we have learned to live.

Anyone who is still concerned now has access to PPE (n95 masks, face shields, latex gloves) and can make use of that. The era of dictating to other people’s children about this stuff is over.

I think what’s really irking people is that compliance with mask and vaccine mandates has become a political thing. Thank God that the Arlington Diocese has done the right thing and trusted parents to make the choice that’s right for their family.

WELL SAID. The mask nuts need to move on. It’s over. Get a life.

The fact that so many of you have so little regard for the lives of people with disabilities and underlying health issues is awful.

Unfortunately, many of us at risk have not been able to return to Mass since masking became optional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. Our kids have spent a year and a half of their childhoods wearing useless cloth masks over their faces.

Vaccines are available for anyone who wants one.

COVID is here to stay; it’s already mutated into a highly-transmissible (hello, silly cloth masks!) but far less serious virus on par with the flu. It is far less of a threat to children than countless other risks and diseases which we have learned to live.

Anyone who is still concerned now has access to PPE (n95 masks, face shields, latex gloves) and can make use of that. The era of dictating to other people’s children about this stuff is over.

I think what’s really irking people is that compliance with mask and vaccine mandates has become a political thing. Thank God that the Arlington Diocese has done the right thing and trusted parents to make the choice that’s right for their family.

WELL SAID. The mask nuts need to move on. It’s over. Get a life.

The fact that so many of you have so little regard for the lives of people with disabilities and underlying health issues is awful.

Unfortunately, many of us at risk have not been able to return to Mass since masking became optional.

Why? God was going to strike you down for going to Church with healthy people who aren’t wearing pieces of cloth over their faces?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. Our kids have spent a year and a half of their childhoods wearing useless cloth masks over their faces.

Vaccines are available for anyone who wants one.

COVID is here to stay; it’s already mutated into a highly-transmissible (hello, silly cloth masks!) but far less serious virus on par with the flu. It is far less of a threat to children than countless other risks and diseases which we have learned to live.

Anyone who is still concerned now has access to PPE (n95 masks, face shields, latex gloves) and can make use of that. The era of dictating to other people’s children about this stuff is over.

I think what’s really irking people is that compliance with mask and vaccine mandates has become a political thing. Thank God that the Arlington Diocese has done the right thing and trusted parents to make the choice that’s right for their family.

WELL SAID. The mask nuts need to move on. It’s over. Get a life.

If you can afford to pay for private school for your kid/s, then you can also purchase higher quality masks. Since last week, many students have shown up wearing kn95s. They are not hard to find now.

Don’t complain when your kid has to stay home for five days when a classmate tests positive. Also, do not make extra work for teachers.

It’s funny you say that, because this already happened to us while the mask requirement was in place. These masks do not stop people from getting COVID; they just don’t.

No peer-reviewed scientific studies—the kinds with control groups etc.—have shown any appreciable benefit to wearing the cloth masks that our kids have been wearing for a year and a half. And any parent knows how unrealistic it is to even expect young kids to even properly wear these masks for a full school day; and then consider all the exceptions (no masks for lunchtime, no masks while enabled in physical exercise, no masks while drinking) which would have to be factored into the analysis as well.

And even if there were some marginal benefit of masking, it must be weighed against the obvious negatives and potential harm that years of masking might inflict on the mental, social, and psychological health of children. Where are the scientific studies to show that masking is safe, or quantifying these other emotional/mental health risks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. Our kids have spent a year and a half of their childhoods wearing useless cloth masks over their faces.

Vaccines are available for anyone who wants one.

COVID is here to stay; it’s already mutated into a highly-transmissible (hello, silly cloth masks!) but far less serious virus on par with the flu. It is far less of a threat to children than countless other risks and diseases which we have learned to live.

Anyone who is still concerned now has access to PPE (n95 masks, face shields, latex gloves) and can make use of that. The era of dictating to other people’s children about this stuff is over.

I think what’s really irking people is that compliance with mask and vaccine mandates has become a political thing. Thank God that the Arlington Diocese has done the right thing and trusted parents to make the choice that’s right for their family.

WELL SAID. The mask nuts need to move on. It’s over. Get a life.

Don’t complain when your kid has to stay home for five days when a classmate tests positive. Also, do not make extra work for teachers.

It’s funny you say that, because this already happened to us while the mask requirement was in place. These masks do not stop people from getting COVID; they just don’t.

No peer-reviewed scientific studies—the kinds with control groups etc.—have shown any appreciable benefit to wearing the cloth masks that our kids have been wearing for a year and a half. And any parent knows how unrealistic it is to even expect young kids to even properly wear these masks for a full school day; and then consider all the exceptions (no masks for lunchtime, no masks while enabled in physical exercise, no masks while drinking) which would have to be factored into the analysis as well.

And even if there were some marginal benefit of masking, it must be weighed against the obvious negatives and potential harm that years of masking might inflict on the mental, social, and psychological health of children. Where are the scientific studies to show that masking is safe, or quantifying these other emotional/mental health risks?

“The preponderance of evidence indicates that mask wearing reduces transmissibility per contact by reducing transmission of infected respiratory particles in both laboratory and clinical contexts. Public mask wearing is most effective at reducing spread of the virus when compliance is high.”

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118

“A large, randomized trial led by researchers at Stanford Medicine and Yale University has found that wearing a surgical face mask over the mouth and nose is an effective way to reduce the occurrence of COVID-19 in community settings.”

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-masks-covid-19.html

“Optimum use of face masks with additional precautions has been found to be useful controlling the spread of the respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 in most of the studies and metaanalyses.“

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34284538/

Where are the studies showing masks cause social and emotional damage to children?

Those of you using the “cloth mask is useless” as justification for unmasking simply need to use surgical masks as the acceptable standard.