Chap Petersen mask letter from 2/8 to FCPS

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a constituent and this is outrageous. He has no right to give covid to my unvaccinated 2 year old, which is what will certainly happen if my elementary schooler is around unmasked children. I will actively support any primary challenger he faces. Masks protect people and are just not a big deal!


Vax and mask your kids if you want to. No one is trying to stop you.


Unfortunately, I cannot vaccinate my two year old. That is the issue. Until everyone who wants a vaccine can have one, we must wear masks. Once there is a vaccine for those under 5, we may be able to reevaluate.


How effective do you believe masks, as actually worn at school, are?


Very. Child at school was a close contact but did not get covid. He certainly would have had both parties not been wearing masks.

I am not worried about the 2 year old dying, as that is very unlikely. In the short term the 2 year old would likely not have a significant illness. But who knows what long term side effects there are from covid? There could be complications we see from other viruses, like shingles or MS. I do not wish to take that chance.


See, my kids were close contacts in an unmasked setting and didn't get Covid - we both have anecdotes on our side! And the science says the mask science is weak.

To account for the gap between the 'masks work' studies and the 'masks don't work' studies, check this article, which points out there's a difference between what masks do in a lab on dummies and how they work on real people who may not particularly like them:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2022/02/01/masks-work-mask-wearing-policies-dont/?sh=b24e7581b5ca

This article talks about what makes a good mask study and why most of those mask studies you've seen actually are bad studies:
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/10/commentary-what-can-masks-do-part-2-what-makes-good-mask-study-and-why-most

This is another article that reviews actual studies and evidence:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/kids-masks-schools-weak-science/621133/ (Chap cited this one in his letter)
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a constituent and this is outrageous. He has no right to give covid to my unvaccinated 2 year old, which is what will certainly happen if my elementary schooler is around unmasked children. I will actively support any primary challenger he faces. Masks protect people and are just not a big deal!


Vax and mask your kids if you want to. No one is trying to stop you.


Unfortunately, I cannot vaccinate my two year old. That is the issue. Until everyone who wants a vaccine can have one, we must wear masks. Once there is a vaccine for those under 5, we may be able to reevaluate.


No one agrees with you. There are some kids that will never be able to get vaccinated due to other health issues. Should we stay masked forever then?


Comments into the school board were over 10 to 1 in favor of masks. So most people agree with me.


I would love a source for this - genuinely. A Time magazine op-ed disagrees with you.
https://time.com/6145291/end-mandatory-masks-schools/
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the mask forever people. We don't wear masks to prevent kids from getting actual serious illnesses that put them in the hospital like RSV, the flu, pneumonia, etc. And now the science shows that if you need to remain completely germ-free, YOU can CHOOSE to wear a medical grade mask.


We didn't do that because, as the CDC still acknowledges on their website, there was inconclusive evidence that masks would help with those illnesses. And they'd run many randomized controlled trials to see.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a constituent and this is outrageous. He has no right to give covid to my unvaccinated 2 year old, which is what will certainly happen if my elementary schooler is around unmasked children. I will actively support any primary challenger he faces. Masks protect people and are just not a big deal!


Vax and mask your kids if you want to. No one is trying to stop you.


Unfortunately, I cannot vaccinate my two year old. That is the issue. Until everyone who wants a vaccine can have one, we must wear masks. Once there is a vaccine for those under 5, we may be able to reevaluate.


No one agrees with you. There are some kids that will never be able to get vaccinated due to other health issues. Should we stay masked forever then?


Comments into the school board were over 10 to 1 in favor of masks. So most people agree with me.


I would love a source for this - genuinely. A Time magazine op-ed disagrees with you.
https://time.com/6145291/end-mandatory-masks-schools/


Here is a source:

https://twitter.com/LJ4fcps/status/1483825563072704513?cxt=HHwWgsC9uZ3fzZcpAAAA
Anonymous
“Also, state law requires districts comply with CDC guidance to the maximum extent practicable. CDC still recommends universal masks in schools. Why does he want schools to break the law?”

No one has a response to this?

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a school administrator and I hope to see more parents stand up like Chap Peterson is. Enough with the masking.


Please get back to work and off DCUM in the middle of a work day morning.


You people are monitored, you know.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:“Also, state law requires districts comply with CDC guidance to the maximum extent practicable. CDC still recommends universal masks in schools. Why does he want schools to break the law?”

No one has a response to this?



Chap wants a purple pony and he WANTS IT RIGHT NOW!!!! (Stomping feet!)
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:“Also, state law requires districts comply with CDC guidance to the maximum extent practicable. CDC still recommends universal masks in schools. Why does he want schools to break the law?”

No one has a response to this?



He wrote an op-ed back in August when Northam's VDH put out the school mask mandate saying SB 1303 didn't require masking. WaPo refused to publish it, but that's been his stance all year. He, in his lawyerly opinion I guess, thinks SB 1303 is not a mask mandate. The Supreme Court of Virginia agreed yesterday in the decision throwing out the Chesapeake parent lawsuit (but didn't say the EO Youngkin put out was legal either). The judge clearly said school boards can forgo recommended CDC strategies.

By allowing school boards to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended COVID-19 mitigation strategies “to the maximum extent practicable,” SB 1303 necessarily gives the boards a degree of discretion to modify or even forgo those strategies as they deem appropriate for their individual circumstances.

(https://www.oag.state.va.us/files/MIYARES2022/ORD02-07-2022Castillo,M.pdf)

Chap's also saying he'll get the law changed if he has to, and as the Joe Manchin of Virginia he probably can do that. The General Assembly can overrule school boards - the judge in Arlington was pretty clear about that.

So - no law breaking. Law making to make is so school boards cannot do mask mandates if required.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a constituent and this is outrageous. He has no right to give covid to my unvaccinated 2 year old, which is what will certainly happen if my elementary schooler is around unmasked children. I will actively support any primary challenger he faces. Masks protect people and are just not a big deal!


Vax and mask your kids if you want to. No one is trying to stop you.


Unfortunately, I cannot vaccinate my two year old. That is the issue. Until everyone who wants a vaccine can have one, we must wear masks. Once there is a vaccine for those under 5, we may be able to reevaluate.


No one agrees with you. There are some kids that will never be able to get vaccinated due to other health issues. Should we stay masked forever then?


Comments into the school board were over 10 to 1 in favor of masks. So most people agree with me.


I would love a source for this - genuinely. A Time magazine op-ed disagrees with you.
https://time.com/6145291/end-mandatory-masks-schools/


Here is a source:

https://twitter.com/LJ4fcps/status/1483825563072704513?cxt=HHwWgsC9uZ3fzZcpAAAA


Thanks. Genuinely thanks.
Anonymous
I give serious side-eye to any politician who wants to end Forced Masking in schools but is not pushing for mandatory vaccinations. Yes, you can still get covid if you’re vaccinated but you’re not clogging up the emergency room or sitting in a pediatric waiting room with children too young to be vaccinated if you catch it and are vaxed. Not to mention, vaccinated students don’t have to quarantine. This dude is always talking about how children need to be in school. That’s one way to keep them in.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a constituent and this is outrageous. He has no right to give covid to my unvaccinated 2 year old, which is what will certainly happen if my elementary schooler is around unmasked children. I will actively support any primary challenger he faces. Masks protect people and are just not a big deal!


Vax and mask your kids if you want to. No one is trying to stop you.


Unfortunately, I cannot vaccinate my two year old. That is the issue. Until everyone who wants a vaccine can have one, we must wear masks. Once there is a vaccine for those under 5, we may be able to reevaluate.


No one agrees with you. There are some kids that will never be able to get vaccinated due to other health issues. Should we stay masked forever then?


Comments into the school board were over 10 to 1 in favor of masks. So most people agree with me.


I would love a source for this - genuinely. A Time magazine op-ed disagrees with you.
https://time.com/6145291/end-mandatory-masks-schools/


Here is a source:

https://twitter.com/LJ4fcps/status/1483825563072704513?cxt=HHwWgsC9uZ3fzZcpAAAA


Thanks. Genuinely thanks.


Adding - that was true on Jan 19 when omicron had yet to peak or was just at peak. I bet it's less true on February 8 and will be very much less true on March 1. We have probably at least 2 months of reprieve from Covid as this thing goes in waves, and seasonality makes it less likely we'll see a spring or summer wave barring a crazy variant. Public opinion will skew away from mask mandates in school when cases are low. And like Chap says, once people see school is fine without masks they won't want to go back.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a constituent and this is outrageous. He has no right to give covid to my unvaccinated 2 year old, which is what will certainly happen if my elementary schooler is around unmasked children. I will actively support any primary challenger he faces. Masks protect people and are just not a big deal!


Hey idiot - your kids could wear masks if you want them to. You could also home school your kids. Stop trying to keep our kids in face cages when kids are the least likely to contract and spread Covid. You are spewing typical wokie Dem propaganda. A lingering symptom of TDS.


You could also homeschool your kids if you don’t want to follow public health regulations.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I give serious side-eye to any politician who wants to end Forced Masking in schools but is not pushing for mandatory vaccinations. Yes, you can still get covid if you’re vaccinated but you’re not clogging up the emergency room or sitting in a pediatric waiting room with children too young to be vaccinated if you catch it and are vaxed. Not to mention, vaccinated students don’t have to quarantine. This dude is always talking about how children need to be in school. That’s one way to keep them in.


Masking kids doesn't move the needle on hospitalizations like boosting seniors does. We need to move ALL our messaging to getting 3 shots in the arms of every at risk person. We know well how to define that category now.

And it's not kids. Not even (at least most) immunocompromised ones. Here's a study in the UK, where their public health data is much better than ours.


• UK immunocompromised paediatric patients were at no increased risk of severe COVID-19.
• Only 4/38 PCR detected infections were admitted to hospital. None had acute severe COVID-19 or died.
• Increasing age and immunodeficiency increased reporting of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Worsening of fever, cough and sore throat were associated with reporting SARS-CoV-2 infection.
• Serology results suggest there was a proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections undetected by PCR.

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016344532100548X#bib0016)

I find it really too bad that our public health people don't share the reassuring data.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a constituent and this is outrageous. He has no right to give covid to my unvaccinated 2 year old, which is what will certainly happen if my elementary schooler is around unmasked children. I will actively support any primary challenger he faces. Masks protect people and are just not a big deal!


Vax and mask your kids if you want to. No one is trying to stop you.


Unfortunately, I cannot vaccinate my two year old. That is the issue. Until everyone who wants a vaccine can have one, we must wear masks. Once there is a vaccine for those under 5, we may be able to reevaluate.


No one agrees with you. There are some kids that will never be able to get vaccinated due to other health issues. Should we stay masked forever then?


Comments into the school board were over 10 to 1 in favor of masks. So most people agree with me.


Did FCPS send out a survey on masking and I missed it?


No, but you are always free to email the school board.


Saying 10 to 1 parents WHO CONTACTED THE SCHOOL BOARD MONTHS AGO preferred masks is extremely not relevant, LOL.

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am a constituent and this is outrageous. He has no right to give covid to my unvaccinated 2 year old, which is what will certainly happen if my elementary schooler is around unmasked children. I will actively support any primary challenger he faces. Masks protect people and are just not a big deal!


Hey idiot - your kids could wear masks if you want them to. You could also home school your kids. Stop trying to keep our kids in face cages when kids are the least likely to contract and spread Covid. You are spewing typical wokie Dem propaganda. A lingering symptom of TDS.


You could also homeschool your kids if you don’t want to follow public health regulations.


What a lovely argument for school choice you are making here.
Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
Go to: