Does mask optional apply to parents/younger sibling (not mcps student) when they enter school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and my little one have to go inside school building to drop off/pick up DC at before care/after care, does mask optional apply to us? Or we still have to wear masks because we are not mcps students/staffs?

And, I wonder does head start/prek program at mcps school also allow to be mask optional and they are all under 5 years old/unvaccinated? This question is for my friend.

Yes. It is now mask optional for everyone under 5 and all their teachers, paras, and other staff that are around them.

-unhappy parent of 3 year old in MCPS

Then you know the PEP kids were regularly taking their masks off before. Some of them never wore masks. I really don’t know what you think masks were accomplishing in that setting.

At least they had some protection from everyone else around then masking. Now they don’t. There’s a difference between a bubble of 4 unmasked pre-k kids in the same classroom and hundreds of k-5 students + staff + bus drivers + teachers + visitors who surround them in that building being unmasked.

How much close contact are they really having with "everyone else" in the building though? Or do you think it's coming through the ventilation systems?

I mean, it feels a whole lot more Covid safe NOW, with low cases, than a couple months ago when masks were required but cases were high. But YMMV.

It is quite clear some posters are unable to think rationally about risk. The posters worried about kids in PEP are a very good example of this. It makes no sense, which would be quickly clear to them if they were willing to stop their meltdown briefly to think about the broader situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

If you're going to demand that people wear masks forever, I recommend that you start wearing your mask 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks, then come back and let us know if you still want to ask your children to do this for the rest of their lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

If you're going to demand that people wear masks forever, I recommend that you start wearing your mask 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks, then come back and let us know if you still want to ask your children to do this for the rest of their lives.

You lack all logic. No one is talking masking forever. You just are making up nonsense. If you don't want your kids masking, why not homeschool? You can make up any rules and teach them any non-sense you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

If you're going to demand that people wear masks forever, I recommend that you start wearing your mask 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks, then come back and let us know if you still want to ask your children to do this for the rest of their lives.

You lack all logic. No one is talking masking forever. You just are making up nonsense. If you don't want your kids masking, why not homeschool? You can make up any rules and teach them any non-sense you want.

Again if you're going to just say we need a mandate without any real kind of timeline or criteria for when it could end then you're effectively saying you want it forever.

I mean there aren't any districts in the area with a mask mandate soooooo I guess that "homeschool the kids if you don't like mask mandates" thing isn't working for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

Actually look at other articles that are concerned. Lots of them.

As this article notes, previous studies did not have a control group. While I fully recognize long COVID is real (a very close friend of mine has it), it is difficult to study. This was the first one that actually used a control group.

It wasn’t the first with a control group. But the results were consistent with the other controlled studies. As you said, long Covid is real, just like long flu is real. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003773

But the actual risks of long Covid have been grossly exaggerated.

I have a friend with long covid (he was one of the unlucky people who got sick in February 2020) and it took him months to recover but he finally on the mend and back to running marathons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

If you're going to demand that people wear masks forever, I recommend that you start wearing your mask 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks, then come back and let us know if you still want to ask your children to do this for the rest of their lives.

You lack all logic. No one is talking masking forever. You just are making up nonsense. If you don't want your kids masking, why not homeschool? You can make up any rules and teach them any non-sense you want.

Again if you're going to just say we need a mandate without any real kind of timeline or criteria for when it could end then you're effectively saying you want it forever.

I mean there aren't any districts in the area with a mask mandate soooooo I guess that "homeschool the kids if you don't like mask mandates" thing isn't working for you.

Can you give me a timeline on how covid is going to react in the next few months from now to the end of school? NO! No one is saying forever but to watch to see if there is another surge, especially given the vaccines only help against hospitalizations and in MCPS there is no other real mitigation and very large overcrowded schools

You aren't talking about a school of 100 kids. You are talking about schools of 500-3200 or so kids plus adults who work there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

Actually look at other articles that are concerned. Lots of them.

As this article notes, previous studies did not have a control group. While I fully recognize long COVID is real (a very close friend of mine has it), it is difficult to study. This was the first one that actually used a control group.

It wasn’t the first with a control group. But the results were consistent with the other controlled studies. As you said, long Covid is real, just like long flu is real. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003773

But the actual risks of long Covid have been grossly exaggerated.

I have a friend with long covid (he was one of the unlucky people who got sick in February 2020) and it took him months to recover but he finally on the mend and back to running marathons.

Your friend is lucky. We had a family member just pass with long term covid. He had to be permanently on oxygen, took it off to go to the bathroom, fell, hit his head and died.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

If you're going to demand that people wear masks forever, I recommend that you start wearing your mask 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks, then come back and let us know if you still want to ask your children to do this for the rest of their lives.

I wear a mask still as does my spouse. We'd never go anywhere indoors without a mask. We are still cautious.

No one is asking anyone to do it for the rest of their lives but my kids have no issues wearing a mask and get it keeps them healthy so they can continue to do their activities and the things they enjoy. My kids probably would be willing to wear them for the rest of their lives as they are used to them and read/understand the seriousness of covid. They also understand if they get it they can spread to a parent who already has long term health issues. They know what its like to watch a parent suffer and they aren't able to do anything to help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and my little one have to go inside school building to drop off/pick up DC at before care/after care, does mask optional apply to us? Or we still have to wear masks because we are not mcps students/staffs?

And, I wonder does head start/prek program at mcps school also allow to be mask optional and they are all under 5 years old/unvaccinated? This question is for my friend.

Yes. It is now mask optional for everyone under 5 and all their teachers, paras, and other staff that are around them.

-unhappy parent of 3 year old in MCPS

Then you know the PEP kids were regularly taking their masks off before. Some of them never wore masks. I really don’t know what you think masks were accomplishing in that setting.

At least they had some protection from everyone else around then masking. Now they don’t. There’s a difference between a bubble of 4 unmasked pre-k kids in the same classroom and hundreds of k-5 students + staff + bus drivers + teachers + visitors who surround them in that building being unmasked.

How much close contact are they really having with "everyone else" in the building though? Or do you think it's coming through the ventilation systems?

I mean, it feels a whole lot more Covid safe NOW, with low cases, than a couple months ago when masks were required but cases were high. But YMMV.

It is quite clear some posters are unable to think rationally about risk. The posters worried about kids in PEP are a very good example of this. It makes no sense, which would be quickly clear to them if they were willing to stop their meltdown briefly to think about the broader situation.

Kids in pep are there for a variety of reasons from delays to disabilities to health issues. Those kids are the most vulnerable. If they weren't they wouldn't be in PEP.

It takes one person to create an outbreak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

If you're going to demand that people wear masks forever, I recommend that you start wearing your mask 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks, then come back and let us know if you still want to ask your children to do this for the rest of their lives.

I wear a mask still as does my spouse. We'd never go anywhere indoors without a mask. We are still cautious.

No one is asking anyone to do it for the rest of their lives but my kids have no issues wearing a mask and get it keeps them healthy so they can continue to do their activities and the things they enjoy. My kids probably would be willing to wear them for the rest of their lives as they are used to them and read/understand the seriousness of covid. They also understand if they get it they can spread to a parent who already has long term health issues. They know what its like to watch a parent suffer and they aren't able to do anything to help.

So, mask forever for your kids. You guys have a plan. My kids gave them up this week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and my little one have to go inside school building to drop off/pick up DC at before care/after care, does mask optional apply to us? Or we still have to wear masks because we are not mcps students/staffs?

And, I wonder does head start/prek program at mcps school also allow to be mask optional and they are all under 5 years old/unvaccinated? This question is for my friend.

Yes. It is now mask optional for everyone under 5 and all their teachers, paras, and other staff that are around them.

-unhappy parent of 3 year old in MCPS

Then you know the PEP kids were regularly taking their masks off before. Some of them never wore masks. I really don’t know what you think masks were accomplishing in that setting.

At least they had some protection from everyone else around then masking. Now they don’t. There’s a difference between a bubble of 4 unmasked pre-k kids in the same classroom and hundreds of k-5 students + staff + bus drivers + teachers + visitors who surround them in that building being unmasked.

How much close contact are they really having with "everyone else" in the building though? Or do you think it's coming through the ventilation systems?

I mean, it feels a whole lot more Covid safe NOW, with low cases, than a couple months ago when masks were required but cases were high. But YMMV.

It is quite clear some posters are unable to think rationally about risk. The posters worried about kids in PEP are a very good example of this. It makes no sense, which would be quickly clear to them if they were willing to stop their meltdown briefly to think about the broader situation.

Kids in pep are there for a variety of reasons from delays to disabilities to health issues. Those kids are the most vulnerable. If they weren't they wouldn't be in PEP.

It takes one person to create an outbreak.

So what? It could be a masked kid that creates an outbreak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and my little one have to go inside school building to drop off/pick up DC at before care/after care, does mask optional apply to us? Or we still have to wear masks because we are not mcps students/staffs?

And, I wonder does head start/prek program at mcps school also allow to be mask optional and they are all under 5 years old/unvaccinated? This question is for my friend.

Yes. It is now mask optional for everyone under 5 and all their teachers, paras, and other staff that are around them.

-unhappy parent of 3 year old in MCPS

Then you know the PEP kids were regularly taking their masks off before. Some of them never wore masks. I really don’t know what you think masks were accomplishing in that setting.

At least they had some protection from everyone else around then masking. Now they don’t. There’s a difference between a bubble of 4 unmasked pre-k kids in the same classroom and hundreds of k-5 students + staff + bus drivers + teachers + visitors who surround them in that building being unmasked.

How much close contact are they really having with "everyone else" in the building though? Or do you think it's coming through the ventilation systems?

I mean, it feels a whole lot more Covid safe NOW, with low cases, than a couple months ago when masks were required but cases were high. But YMMV.

It is quite clear some posters are unable to think rationally about risk. The posters worried about kids in PEP are a very good example of this. It makes no sense, which would be quickly clear to them if they were willing to stop their meltdown briefly to think about the broader situation.

Kids in pep are there for a variety of reasons from delays to disabilities to health issues. Those kids are the most vulnerable. If they weren't they wouldn't be in PEP.

It takes one person to create an outbreak.

So what? It could be a masked kid that creates an outbreak.

Or one of the kids that never wore masks in PEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

If you're going to demand that people wear masks forever, I recommend that you start wearing your mask 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks, then come back and let us know if you still want to ask your children to do this for the rest of their lives.

You lack all logic. No one is talking masking forever. You just are making up nonsense. If you don't want your kids masking, why not homeschool? You can make up any rules and teach them any non-sense you want.

Again if you're going to just say we need a mandate without any real kind of timeline or criteria for when it could end then you're effectively saying you want it forever.

I mean there aren't any districts in the area with a mask mandate soooooo I guess that "homeschool the kids if you don't like mask mandates" thing isn't working for you.

Can you give me a timeline on how covid is going to react in the next few months from now to the end of school? NO! No one is saying forever but to watch to see if there is another surge, especially given the vaccines only help against hospitalizations and in MCPS there is no other real mitigation and very large overcrowded schools

You aren't talking about a school of 100 kids. You are talking about schools of 500-3200 or so kids plus adults who work there.

Covid isn’t being eradicated. There will be seasonal differences in case numbers. There will be new variants. There will be months or years with large numbers of cases. That’s the world we live in. And it isn’t all that different from the world we had before covid.

You’re going to have to come to terms with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Young children are lower risk than a vaccinated adult, and we now know they aren't experiencing long COVID in large numbers
https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/#:~:text=Initial%20reports%20suggested%20that%20some,last%20for%20days%20or%20weeks.

They are at the same risk of getting Covid now.

Nobody cares who gets COVID. Lots of people are getting COVID. They say BA2 is almost as infectious as the measles so good luck evading that based on other kids wearing a cloth mask under their noses. What matters is who suffers severe illness, death or long term disability as a result of the infection. Very few young children do, to the point that flu and RSV pose similar risks so if you weren't demanding all people wear masks around your child because of those illnessnes pre-pandemic then you're not making a lot of sense.

YOU don't care. Some of us do. And, masking makes common sense based off your post as it also protects agains flu and RSV.

I have older kids who still mask. They know to stay away from people like you and they know decent people mask.

If you're going to demand that people wear masks forever, I recommend that you start wearing your mask 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks, then come back and let us know if you still want to ask your children to do this for the rest of their lives.

I wear a mask still as does my spouse. We'd never go anywhere indoors without a mask. We are still cautious.

No one is asking anyone to do it for the rest of their lives but my kids have no issues wearing a mask and get it keeps them healthy so they can continue to do their activities and the things they enjoy. My kids probably would be willing to wear them for the rest of their lives as they are used to them and read/understand the seriousness of covid. They also understand if they get it they can spread to a parent who already has long term health issues. They know what its like to watch a parent suffer and they aren't able to do anything to help.

So, mask forever for your kids. You guys have a plan. My kids gave them up this week.

That's fine but don't complain when some kids and staff will not go nears yours. Then you'll scream they are bulled.