When will the masking end?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS school and everyone still masking despite the mandate being dropped. This is so disheartening. I really worry about the negative effects of not seeing faces for my young kids learning to read. I’m seriously considering moving to Virginia because of this, which sounds crazy I know. But if people aren’t a unmasking when vaccines are available and cases are low in community when will they?

(1) Cases are not low, dummy.
(2) Do we really need two threads on this every day?

DC's community level is low: https://coronavirus.dc.gov/key-metrics

Honestly you should be flagged for misinformation.

FYI, the CDC's "community levels" are about hospital admissions, not case counts. They stopped making transmission levels the main public metric, mostly to make the map look green instead of red, but those levels continue to be High or Substantial in nearly all of the country: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&list_select_county=all_counties&data-type=Risk. DC is currently experiencing Substantial transmission levels (most recent is 85 per 100,000 residents, although I assume it's higher because many tests aren't being reported to public health authorities anymore).

CDC's community levels are about BOTH hospital admissions and case counts:
"Your community’s level is determined by a combination of:

How many people with COVID-19 have been admitted into local hospitals in the last week
How many local hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients
How many new COVID-19 cases the county has had in the last week"

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/past-reports/02252022.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS school and everyone still masking despite the mandate being dropped. This is so disheartening. I really worry about the negative effects of not seeing faces for my young kids learning to read. I’m seriously considering moving to Virginia because of this, which sounds crazy I know. But if people aren’t a unmasking when vaccines are available and cases are low in community when will they?

(1) Cases are not low, dummy.
(2) Do we really need two threads on this every day?

DC's community level is low: https://coronavirus.dc.gov/key-metrics

Honestly you should be flagged for misinformation.

FYI, the CDC's "community levels" are about hospital admissions, not case counts. They stopped making transmission levels the main public metric, mostly to make the map look green instead of red, but those levels continue to be High or Substantial in nearly all of the country: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&list_select_county=all_counties&data-type=Risk. DC is currently experiencing Substantial transmission levels (most recent is 85 per 100,000 residents, although I assume it's higher because many tests aren't being reported to public health authorities anymore).

CDC's community levels are about BOTH hospital admissions and case counts:
"Your community’s level is determined by a combination of:

How many people with COVID-19 have been admitted into local hospitals in the last week
How many local hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients
How many new COVID-19 cases the county has had in the last week"

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/past-reports/02252022.html

Thank you!!! In fact there is a case count cutoff (200/100,000). If you cross that, you move to the next higher community level, even if the hospital related metrics are unchanged. So in practical terms, low community level does in fact mean low cases and low hospitalization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people who actually know what they are talking about (Drs, epidemiologists etc) say masks are no longer necessary I'm sure many families will be ready to drop them.

Just because most of society has decided to stick their heads in the sand doesn't mean this is over.

The CDC said awhile ago that masks are not necessarily in schools in places like DC. They only recommend masks in places where the community spread is considered "high." DC is "low."

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you want? A mask ban in schools? That’s not gonna happen. You are going to have to deal with other peoples choices.

This. I’m not interested in my kid masking but other people may make different choices. What is the big deal? It’s a personal choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has ended. No one masking in va.

This is why OP wants to move to VA.

Very few kids in my kid's FCPS ES wear masks. 3 kids in her class of 25 and she said that seems pretty consistent throughout the school.

My other kid in MS says it is more like 30-40% and very much divided along racial lines, which is interesting.

I wonder if the kids who are still masking are more likely to know someone who died. I know my one kid who is still masking is doing it for a sense of control in an unpredictable world.

Probably more likely that we're creating the next generation of germophobic weirdos by teaching them to have wildly exaggerated fears of germs...

I don't think so, because they will still eat a piece of candy that dropped on the cafeteria floor. It's just COVID that scares them (understandably).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has ended. No one masking in va.

This is why OP wants to move to VA.

Very few kids in my kid's FCPS ES wear masks. 3 kids in her class of 25 and she said that seems pretty consistent throughout the school.

My other kid in MS says it is more like 30-40% and very much divided along racial lines, which is interesting.

I wonder if the kids who are still masking are more likely to know someone who died. I know my one kid who is still masking is doing it for a sense of control in an unpredictable world.

Probably more likely that we're creating the next generation of germophobic weirdos by teaching them to have wildly exaggerated fears of germs...

I don't think so, because they will still eat a piece of candy that dropped on the cafeteria floor. It's just COVID that scares them (understandably).

They're the last people who should worry about COVID. Since the pandemic began, roughly 1,370 people in the District have died from it (mostly in 2020 and 2021 -- hospitalizations and deaths have since fallen off a cliff). Anyway, guess how many kids in the District had died from COVID? Zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you want? A mask ban in schools? That’s not gonna happen. You are going to have to deal with other peoples choices.

This. I’m not interested in my kid masking but other people may make different choices. What is the big deal? It’s a personal choice.

I want a culture of people who follow the science and recognize that indefinite masking has real harms. I want it to be normal for my kids to see faces of their teacher and peers. I always scoffed at moving to Virginia but I think I need to call a RE agent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's especially strange that there's still masking in schools when we as a city do not impose any other precautions on anyone in any other context, with the exception of hospitals.

DC always imposes the strictest coronavirus rules on the people (i.e. children) who are the least likely to get sick or to spread coronavirus.

But no one is imposing anything on anyone. Kids don't have to mask. Some may choose to, which is what's bothering the OP.

At least 3 charter schools still require masks, according to the other thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS school and everyone still masking despite the mandate being dropped. This is so disheartening. I really worry about the negative effects of not seeing faces for my young kids learning to read. I’m seriously considering moving to Virginia because of this, which sounds crazy I know. But if people aren’t a unmasking when vaccines are available and cases are low in community when will they?

It's a totally reasonable question and one people still in favor of masking never want to have to answer because they can't.

It seems pretty clear at this point that masks don't do nearly as much as we'd like to stop coronavirus, but they are really effective in terms of soothing the nerves of anxious people.

My anxious kid usually just needs time to come around. I doubt he’ll mask forever. But I also doubt that lecturing him about it, using arguments about germ theory and statistics that are way over his head, is the most effective way to change his behavior.

Yet isn't that how and why he started masking in the first place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people who actually know what they are talking about (Drs, epidemiologists etc) say masks are no longer necessary I'm sure many families will be ready to drop them.

Just because most of society has decided to stick their heads in the sand doesn't mean this is over.

They're not sticking their heads in the sand. They're following the health guidance. DC is the one not following the guidance. Coronavirus is never going to be "over." It will be with us forever. Fortunately, it's not that big of deal anymore if you get it so people can get on with their lives.

I don’t really get the “it will be with us forever” as a reason never to mask.

When salmonella started showing up in eggs (at much lower rates than covid) people stopped eating raw cookie dough (no, not everyone but no one says, oh salmonella will be here forever so go back to eating raw cookie dough).

No one says, oh colds will be here forever, so why do you insist on washing your hands so much?

I guess if you really think covid is just a cold and you think wearing a mask is hugely inconvenient then it might make sense but there’s plenty of people who would disagree on either point.

I sort of see your point but my (3 and 6 yo) kids wearing masks for 7 hours a day seems more burdensome than not eating raw cookie dough.

Added to that, many people I know (us included) do indeed sample some cookie dough and go with runny yolks on the eggs benedict. But, carry on...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's especially strange that there's still masking in schools when we as a city do not impose any other precautions on anyone in any other context, with the exception of hospitals.

DC always imposes the strictest coronavirus rules on the people (i.e. children) who are the least likely to get sick or to spread coronavirus.

But no one is imposing anything on anyone. Kids don't have to mask. Some may choose to, which is what's bothering the OP.

True, but I sense it's more than that. The OP is likely wondering what it is about their school in particular and DC more broadly that causes a significant percentage of people to wear masks in school in contrast to just about all of the rest of the country (and the world). The italicized part is the important part. In other words, why is DC such an outlier on this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you want? A mask ban in schools? That’s not gonna happen. You are going to have to deal with other peoples choices.

This. I’m not interested in my kid masking but other people may make different choices. What is the big deal? It’s a personal choice.

I want a culture of people who follow the science and recognize that indefinite masking has real harms. I want it to be normal for my kids to see faces of their teacher and peers. I always scoffed at moving to Virginia but I think I need to call a RE agent.

You do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's especially strange that there's still masking in schools when we as a city do not impose any other precautions on anyone in any other context, with the exception of hospitals.

DC always imposes the strictest coronavirus rules on the people (i.e. children) who are the least likely to get sick or to spread coronavirus.

But no one is imposing anything on anyone. Kids don't have to mask. Some may choose to, which is what's bothering the OP.

True, but I sense it's more than that. The OP is likely wondering what it is about their school in particular and DC more broadly that causes a significant percentage of people to wear masks in school in contrast to just about all of the rest of the country (and the world). The italicized part is the important part. In other words, why is DC such an outlier on this?

DC is a little one-party bubble, and the party has gone bat crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's especially strange that there's still masking in schools when we as a city do not impose any other precautions on anyone in any other context, with the exception of hospitals.

DC always imposes the strictest coronavirus rules on the people (i.e. children) who are the least likely to get sick or to spread coronavirus.

But no one is imposing anything on anyone. Kids don't have to mask. Some may choose to, which is what's bothering the OP.

True, but I sense it's more than that. The OP is likely wondering what it is about their school in particular and DC more broadly that causes a significant percentage of people to wear masks in school in contrast to just about all of the rest of the country (and the world). The italicized part is the important part. In other words, why is DC such an outlier on this?

DC is a little one-party bubble, and the party has gone bat crazy.

Yup. It's not even like it a Democrat thing. It's a "progressive" thing. I've spent time in several heavily blue areas this summer and barely saw anyone in masks. Then I come home to DC and see people OUTSIDE wearing masks like it f-ing 2020 again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you want? A mask ban in schools? That’s not gonna happen. You are going to have to deal with other peoples choices.

This. I’m not interested in my kid masking but other people may make different choices. What is the big deal? It’s a personal choice.

I want a culture of people who follow the science and recognize that indefinite masking has real harms. I want it to be normal for my kids to see faces of their teacher and peers. I always scoffed at moving to Virginia but I think I need to call a RE agent.

Why do you assume that those wearing masks, optional for them and optional for you but a different choice, aren’t following the science for their household? We have a family member with a chronic disease and know what it’s like to live with that and frankly don’t want another added on top. We do not want our kids to mask forever, but the omicron booster just came out (done!) and we are going to hopefully let up as that settles in and cases stay low. Our medical providers have said that’s rational. They don’t say that’s “liberal” as chronic diseases and long Covid don’t give a damn on your political views. I refuse to believe a little kindness to others is that hard when it’s about something optional for you. And yet, these threads go on and on and on.