When should DC drop its school mask mandate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was shopping for booster seats this morning and had an epiphany related to masking in schools.

The best-in-class, safest high back booster seat on the market costs $400 and a steel frame. It weighs a ton and can a beast to install and use, BUT if done properly, it has a near perfect crash test rating (a 9/10).

I know a bunch of rich parents who could easily afford this seat. They all care deeply about their kids and are generally pretty cautious. And I don’t know anyone with this booster. Why? Because not only is it the most expensive, it’s also hard to I stall and use, and hard to move into a different car. It’s less convenient. And you also only get the added safety from it if it’s perfectly installed and used, and what if you make a mistake? Most people use boosters that cost half that (or less), are easy to use and move around, while still providing good safety (say a 7/10, or even an 8/10 for done models). The added safety is not worth the costs in other ways.

And that’s how I think about Covid measures. If ALL we care about is protecting kids from Covid, then we should mandate K95s for all people, require daily testing, and close schools when ever cases go up. But it’s not all we care about, nor should it be. As in every other decision parents make, we have to weigh priorities and practical concerns like costs and convenience. Doing so doesn’t mean we don’t care about kids or safety. It means we are using our judgment to balance factors. We do this all the time. Why is Covid any different?

It's different because public health officials have scared the sh$t out of people for the past two years, have worked hard to give the impression that everyone, including kids, is at grave risk from this virus (instead of acknowledging the enormous age gradient of this particular virus) in order to generate compliance and support for NPIs, and it's very hard to un-scare people once you have created this kind of mass hysteria.

Secondly, it is different because this country doesn't really have a plan for transitioning to endemicity, and when to stop treating this virus completely differently from other viruses and from how it needed to be treated in 2020. A lot of parents want mask mandates to stay in place because they believe that they help prevent some of the spread, and they are worried that if cases spike too much, schools will be closed again, or asymptomatic kids will have to miss school for ten days. As long as these policies are in place, masks seem like a sensible precaution even to those who aren't afraid of Covid but do believe in their effectiveness. I personally question how much they actually do, but I do agree that our whole approach to this virus should ideally change along with the mask policy.

It’s different because folks in DC have followed the rules, gotten vaccinated, gotten our kids vaccinated, masked, distanced and done all the things.

I do think DC is in great shape, I think mask restrictions can be lessened and for our kids slowly removed etc.

What I struggle w is that while we all worked hard, too many didn’t (non DC folks) and they made it political, about freedom and BS like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I struggle w is that while we all worked hard, too many didn’t (non DC folks) and they made it political, about freedom and BS like that.

But why do you struggle with this in terms of making choices for DC? This is the part I don’t understand. When people say things like “Our vac rate is reasonably high, and we have other effective precautions in place (like testing, vaccines for adults and many kids, and health screenings), so maybe we should remove the mask mandate which might be hard on our kids given how long it’s gone on,” people will instantly lump you in with those folks in other places who made everything political and oppose masks on principle and won’t vaccinate. It’s so frustrating.

There is a loud minority contingent in DC who view any attempt to shift our handling of Covid (not eliminate, but shift to a new phase) as some kind of conservative incursion. It’s maddening. We’re your neighbors! We’re vaccinated. Many of us have been incredible careful the last two years (this is a fact— DC has among the most Covid cautious population in the US, and more cautious than most European countries as well). Maybe start giving us the benefit of the doubt on by some of this stuff? Even if you don’t agree, perhaps don’t accuse us of being selfish, anti-science jerks? We’re not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I struggle w is that while we all worked hard, too many didn’t (non DC folks) and they made it political, about freedom and BS like that.

But why do you struggle with this in terms of making choices for DC? This is the part I don’t understand. When people say things like “Our vac rate is reasonably high, and we have other effective precautions in place (like testing, vaccines for adults and many kids, and health screenings), so maybe we should remove the mask mandate which might be hard on our kids given how long it’s gone on,” people will instantly lump you in with those folks in other places who made everything political and oppose masks on principle and won’t vaccinate. It’s so frustrating.

There is a loud minority contingent in DC who view any attempt to shift our handling of Covid (not eliminate, but shift to a new phase) as some kind of conservative incursion. It’s maddening. We’re your neighbors! We’re vaccinated. Many of us have been incredible careful the last two years (this is a fact— DC has among the most Covid cautious population in the US, and more cautious than most European countries as well). Maybe start giving us the benefit of the doubt on by some of this stuff? Even if you don’t agree, perhaps don’t accuse us of being selfish, anti-science jerks? We’re not.

I don’t struggle giving DC space to adjust. I struggle giving others space. If DC does something others will follow or the horrible unvaxxed will visit.

DC shifting mask mandates on March 1. I’m not complaining to anyone

[Anonymous]

https://chng.it/GHHpbTSjpY

Petition for post-omicron change in DC schools

[Anonymous]

I've started working in a kindergarten classroom in DC as an aide. The kids are fine wearing masks for the most part. But, for some of them, they are really struggling to learn letters and letter sounds because they can't see the teacher's mouth.

I'm not sure I think the benefits outweigh the setbacks. And I say that as a person who has been very conservative over the last two years (I haven't eaten inside a restaurant in 2 years, for example) and who would be at increased risk in my job if masks came off.

Don't we think at this point that we can end the mandate and then kids that need more protection can continue to wear great masks at school? Can't we treat this a bit like we treat peanut butter and other allergies? You can't come to school with covid, and if you've got a particular situation that makes your child especially susceptible to covid, then you take the extra precautions needed for your child to be safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://chng.it/GHHpbTSjpY

Petition for post-omicron change in DC schools

OMG this is so funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've started working in a kindergarten classroom in DC as an aide. The kids are fine wearing masks for the most part. But, for some of them, they are really struggling to learn letters and letter sounds because they can't see the teacher's mouth.

I'm not sure I think the benefits outweigh the setbacks. And I say that as a person who has been very conservative over the last two years (I haven't eaten inside a restaurant in 2 years, for example) and who would be at increased risk in my job if masks came off.

Don't we think at this point that we can end the mandate and then kids that need more protection can continue to wear great masks at school? Can't we treat this a bit like we treat peanut butter and other allergies? You can't come to school with covid, and if you've got a particular situation that makes your child especially susceptible to covid, then you take the extra precautions needed for your child to be safe.

I think we will see some real delays and long term learning affects from the pandemic in children in the coming years. No one, not even people on this board, seem to give two sh**s about that. I teach HS and the mental health this has taking/is taking on kids is startling. The behavior, how behind some kids are, the lack of resilience, ability to focus, etc. are much worse than previous years. Even some kids knowing how to appropriately interact with each other and adults is worse. I think getting masks out of schools and finally allowing kids to do extracurricular as they did pre-pandemic needs to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've started working in a kindergarten classroom in DC as an aide. The kids are fine wearing masks for the most part. But, for some of them, they are really struggling to learn letters and letter sounds because they can't see the teacher's mouth.

I'm not sure I think the benefits outweigh the setbacks. And I say that as a person who has been very conservative over the last two years (I haven't eaten inside a restaurant in 2 years, for example) and who would be at increased risk in my job if masks came off.

Don't we think at this point that we can end the mandate and then kids that need more protection can continue to wear great masks at school? Can't we treat this a bit like we treat peanut butter and other allergies? You can't come to school with covid, and if you've got a particular situation that makes your child especially susceptible to covid, then you take the extra precautions needed for your child to be safe.

I think we will see some real delays and long term learning affects from the pandemic in children in the coming years. No one, not even people on this board, seem to give two sh**s about that. I teach HS and the mental health this has taking/is taking on kids is startling. The behavior, how behind some kids are, the lack of resilience, ability to focus, etc. are much worse than previous years. Even some kids knowing how to appropriately interact with each other and adults is worse. I think getting masks out of schools and finally allowing kids to do extracurricular as they did pre-pandemic needs to happen.

Thank you so much for sharing this, I think we should start breaking stereotypes for teachers viewed of situation that kind of formed during pandemic. Are by any chance aware of teachers are able to share their opinions on this with WTU and with DC leadership? And if they can, do they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've started working in a kindergarten classroom in DC as an aide. The kids are fine wearing masks for the most part. But, for some of them, they are really struggling to learn letters and letter sounds because they can't see the teacher's mouth.

I'm not sure I think the benefits outweigh the setbacks. And I say that as a person who has been very conservative over the last two years (I haven't eaten inside a restaurant in 2 years, for example) and who would be at increased risk in my job if masks came off.

Don't we think at this point that we can end the mandate and then kids that need more protection can continue to wear great masks at school? Can't we treat this a bit like we treat peanut butter and other allergies? You can't come to school with covid, and if you've got a particular situation that makes your child especially susceptible to covid, then you take the extra precautions needed for your child to be safe.

I think we will see some real delays and long term learning affects from the pandemic in children in the coming years. No one, not even people on this board, seem to give two sh**s about that. I teach HS and the mental health this has taking/is taking on kids is startling. The behavior, how behind some kids are, the lack of resilience, ability to focus, etc. are much worse than previous years. Even some kids knowing how to appropriately interact with each other and adults is worse. I think getting masks out of schools and finally allowing kids to do extracurricular as they did pre-pandemic needs to happen.

All i care about is my kid’s mental health. “Learning loss” will be fixed but the mental health not as easily.

I don’t think rushing back to pre pandemic times helps either. I do think we can remove or ease up on mask restrictions but I don’t see the need to rush. How about pushing mask removal when student body population vaccine rate is 85%. How about a school system w different masking rules for HS vs ES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've started working in a kindergarten classroom in DC as an aide. The kids are fine wearing masks for the most part. But, for some of them, they are really struggling to learn letters and letter sounds because they can't see the teacher's mouth.

I'm not sure I think the benefits outweigh the setbacks. And I say that as a person who has been very conservative over the last two years (I haven't eaten inside a restaurant in 2 years, for example) and who would be at increased risk in my job if masks came off.

Don't we think at this point that we can end the mandate and then kids that need more protection can continue to wear great masks at school? Can't we treat this a bit like we treat peanut butter and other allergies? You can't come to school with covid, and if you've got a particular situation that makes your child especially susceptible to covid, then you take the extra precautions needed for your child to be safe.

I think we will see some real delays and long term learning affects from the pandemic in children in the coming years. No one, not even people on this board, seem to give two sh**s about that. I teach HS and the mental health this has taking/is taking on kids is startling. The behavior, how behind some kids are, the lack of resilience, ability to focus, etc. are much worse than previous years. Even some kids knowing how to appropriately interact with each other and adults is worse. I think getting masks out of schools and finally allowing kids to do extracurricular as they did pre-pandemic needs to happen.

Student vaccine rate (if we’re thinking age 5-18) will NEVER be higher than 60%. I’m sorry to sound so radical, I hate when it ends up like this, but with FLU being much deadlier to kids and vaccine rates NEVER being as high as 50% in last decades, and with ZERO countries requiring vaccination for kids, there is no chance. For the record, currently in DC it’s 21% for 2 doses in DC.

All i care about is my kid’s mental health. “Learning loss” will be fixed but the mental health not as easily.

I don’t think rushing back to pre pandemic times helps either. I do think we can remove or ease up on mask restrictions but I don’t see the need to rush. How about pushing mask removal when student body population vaccine rate is 85%. How about a school system w different masking rules for HS vs ES?

[Anonymous]

I would just like to see some PLAN to end mandatory masking. This is just stupid at this point. It's stupid to end masking everywhere but schools. My kid has been a trooper through this and I would have been that "kids are ok with masking" person but now my kid cries when I tell him to put on his mask every morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've started working in a kindergarten classroom in DC as an aide. The kids are fine wearing masks for the most part. But, for some of them, they are really struggling to learn letters and letter sounds because they can't see the teacher's mouth.

I'm not sure I think the benefits outweigh the setbacks. And I say that as a person who has been very conservative over the last two years (I haven't eaten inside a restaurant in 2 years, for example) and who would be at increased risk in my job if masks came off.

Don't we think at this point that we can end the mandate and then kids that need more protection can continue to wear great masks at school? Can't we treat this a bit like we treat peanut butter and other allergies? You can't come to school with covid, and if you've got a particular situation that makes your child especially susceptible to covid, then you take the extra precautions needed for your child to be safe.

I think we will see some real delays and long term learning affects from the pandemic in children in the coming years. No one, not even people on this board, seem to give two sh**s about that. I teach HS and the mental health this has taking/is taking on kids is startling. The behavior, how behind some kids are, the lack of resilience, ability to focus, etc. are much worse than previous years. Even some kids knowing how to appropriately interact with each other and adults is worse. I think getting masks out of schools and finally allowing kids to do extracurricular as they did pre-pandemic needs to happen.

Student vaccine rate (if we’re thinking age 5-18) will NEVER be higher than 60%. I’m sorry to sound so radical, I hate when it ends up like this, but with FLU being much deadlier to kids and vaccine rates NEVER being as high as 50% in last decades, and with ZERO countries requiring vaccination for kids, there is no chance. For the record, currently in DC it’s 21% for 2 doses in DC.

All i care about is my kid’s mental health. “Learning loss” will be fixed but the mental health not as easily.

I don’t think rushing back to pre pandemic times helps either. I do think we can remove or ease up on mask restrictions but I don’t see the need to rush. How about pushing mask removal when student body population vaccine rate is 85%. How about a school system w different masking rules for HS vs ES?

Student vaccine rate (if we’re thinking age 5-18) will NEVER be higher than 60%. I’m sorry to sound so radical, I hate when it ends up like this, but with FLU being much deadlier to kids and vaccine rates NEVER being as high as 50% in last decades, and with ZERO countries requiring vaccination for kids, there is no chance. For the record, currently in DC it’s 21% for 2 doses in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've started working in a kindergarten classroom in DC as an aide. The kids are fine wearing masks for the most part. But, for some of them, they are really struggling to learn letters and letter sounds because they can't see the teacher's mouth.

I'm not sure I think the benefits outweigh the setbacks. And I say that as a person who has been very conservative over the last two years (I haven't eaten inside a restaurant in 2 years, for example) and who would be at increased risk in my job if masks came off.

Don't we think at this point that we can end the mandate and then kids that need more protection can continue to wear great masks at school? Can't we treat this a bit like we treat peanut butter and other allergies? You can't come to school with covid, and if you've got a particular situation that makes your child especially susceptible to covid, then you take the extra precautions needed for your child to be safe.

I think we will see some real delays and long term learning affects from the pandemic in children in the coming years. No one, not even people on this board, seem to give two sh**s about that. I teach HS and the mental health this has taking/is taking on kids is startling. The behavior, how behind some kids are, the lack of resilience, ability to focus, etc. are much worse than previous years. Even some kids knowing how to appropriately interact with each other and adults is worse. I think getting masks out of schools and finally allowing kids to do extracurricular as they did pre-pandemic needs to happen.

Student vaccine rate (if we’re thinking age 5-18) will NEVER be higher than 60%. I’m sorry to sound so radical, I hate when it ends up like this, but with FLU being much deadlier to kids and vaccine rates NEVER being as high as 50% in last decades, and with ZERO countries requiring vaccination for kids, there is no chance. For the record, currently in DC it’s 21% for 2 doses in DC.

All i care about is my kid’s mental health. “Learning loss” will be fixed but the mental health not as easily.

I don’t think rushing back to pre pandemic times helps either. I do think we can remove or ease up on mask restrictions but I don’t see the need to rush. How about pushing mask removal when student body population vaccine rate is 85%. How about a school system w different masking rules for HS vs ES?

I think some schools will get that high for vaccination rates, but it will be correlated with race and SES. Is that then bad if the whiter schools remove mask mandates but the higher-percentage Black schools don't? I don't know. If Black people (on average) are choosing to not vaccinate their kids and want to keep masking, and the white people (on average) are choosing to vaccinate but want to stop masking, is there a problem there? Everyone is doing what they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to see some PLAN to end mandatory masking. This is just stupid at this point. It's stupid to end masking everywhere but schools. My kid has been a trooper through this and I would have been that "kids are ok with masking" person but now my kid cries when I tell him to put on his mask every morning.

There is no plan - don't you get it? There are people who want you and your kids to mask forever. Just read some of the posts here. It's all about when they "feel safe" around your kids, which of course, in their mental state, will be never.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to see some PLAN to end mandatory masking. This is just stupid at this point. It's stupid to end masking everywhere but schools. My kid has been a trooper through this and I would have been that "kids are ok with masking" person but now my kid cries when I tell him to put on his mask every morning.

There is no plan - don't you get it? There are people who want you and your kids to mask forever. Just read some of the posts here. It's all about when they "feel safe" around your kids, which of course, in their mental state, will be never.

Oh I get it. It's a complete garbage mess and I'm so fed up with the stupidity of our politicians and health advisors. Aside from writing to them all of the time, there doesn't seem like a lot I can do.