When should DC drop its school mask mandate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CA, OR, NY, WA all announced they're dropping school mask mandates. DC is officially the only "state" in the nation requiring kids to wear masks. Bowser is such a disgrace. Unfortunately there's nobody more sane running against her...

I guess we still have Hawaii for company?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue is that the CDC is still working on updating their school guidance. They have made it clear though that their new masking guidelines WILL apply to schools, so the recommendation to unmask at schools is coming. The CDC's school guidance website currenly says this:

"CDC’s new COVID-19 Community Levels recommendations align precautions for educational settings with those for other community settings. CDC is in the process of updating this page with these new recommendations. Updates will be posted here when available."
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communit...s-childcare/k-12-guidance.html

DC Health's webpage has the identical message:

"CDC's new COVID-19 Community Levels recommendations align precautions for educational settings with those for other community settings. DC Health is in the process of updating this page with these new recommendations. Updates will be posted here when available."
https://coronavirus.dc.gov/healthguidance

So clearly DC Health is planning on following the CDC once the CDC makes it official for schools.

Woohoo!

What more does DC have to wait for from the CDC to update? The CDC has already said educational settings are included. That has been good enough for every other “state” except DC. I don’t see this language on the DC website as a positive sign. I see it as a copy and paste trick to make it look like they’re doing something.

[Anonymous]

This is ridiculous. Everyone in DC who has a sign in their yard saying they believe in science needs to take a Sharpie to it asap.

[Anonymous]

We should treat mask mandates the same way we shoul Muriel Bowser and Lewis Ferebee - by getting rid of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Newbie here. Will the community based daycares follow DCPS on masks or do they follow other local governance?

It's all about OSSE for our daycare. They will not change a thing until OSSE specifically says "no more masks" or "reduce your quarantine."

Our daycare also still has a 7 day travel quarantine in effect as required because DC never took down the language that it is "recommended" for unvaccinated people. It's insanity.

When DC finally does act on dropping school and daycare mask requirements, OSSE is going to have to be very, very specific that they should be dropped.

Yu Ying is still requiring a 7-day travel quarantine for the unvaccinated (ie, all PK3 and PK4 families) leaving the DMV because of the DC Health “recommendation”.

They can "require" it all they want, but if no one gives a shit and everyone ignores it, is it really a requirement?

If an unvaccinated kid mentions at school that they went somewhere, Yu Ying pulls them out of the classroom and sends them home for the remaining 10 days.

Good lord, really? All this does is teach people to get their kids to lie at this stage.

That’s hilarious. Get vaccinated!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We should treat mask mandates the same way we shoul Muriel Bowser and Lewis Ferebee - by getting rid of them.

Bowser is very much in campaigning mode. If you want her to move on this you need to keep putting electoral pressure on her. Email her (with copies to LaQuandra Nesbit, Ferebee and your council member) that it is time for DC to follow the updated CDC guidance on this. If it is time to drop vaccine and mask mandates for adults, that should apply to the entire population including schools. According to CDC stats, DC is in the Green Low category so it is definitely time. I’ve been emailing every day sending in news information such as news stories. And I always acknowledge that DC may have to turn the dual back up and reinstate some of these precautions in the future, but it would be a huge mistake to not give your students this opportunity for a break like everyone else - especially in light of the fact that they at at the lowest risk from COVid and have the greatest risk of suffering actual harm from masking (social, emotion and academic development).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should treat mask mandates the same way we shoul Muriel Bowser and Lewis Ferebee - by getting rid of them.

Bowser is very much in campaigning mode. If you want her to move on this you need to keep putting electoral pressure on her. Email her (with copies to LaQuandra Nesbit, Ferebee and your council member) that it is time for DC to follow the updated CDC guidance on this. If it is time to drop vaccine and mask mandates for adults, that should apply to the entire population including schools. According to CDC stats, DC is in the Green Low category so it is definitely time. I’ve been emailing every day sending in news information such as news stories. And I always acknowledge that DC may have to turn the dual back up and reinstate some of these precautions in the future, but it would be a huge mistake to not give your students this opportunity for a break like everyone else - especially in light of the fact that they at at the lowest risk from COVid and have the greatest risk of suffering actual harm from masking (social, emotion and academic development).

This, thank you.

[Anonymous]

I now see this statement on the DC Coronovirus site, acknowledging the new CDC guidance. Dare I hope that they actually follow it?


COVID-19 Health Guidances
CDC's new COVID-19 Community Levels recommendations align precautions for educational settings with those for other community settings. DC Health is in the process of updating this page with these new recommendations. Updates will be posted here when available.

https://coronavirus.dc.gov/healthguidance

[Anonymous]

Does the (preliminary) news that the vaccine efficacy wanes significantly in 5-11 YO change your views on masking?

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizerbiontech-covid-vaccine-less-effective-ages-5-11-new-york-study-2022-02-28/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. Everyone in DC who has a sign in their yard saying they believe in science needs to take a Sharpie to it asap.

Oh at this point I assume those signs always mean the opposite.

"I Believe in Science" actually means "I Believe I am a Scientist Because I Listened to a Podcast."

"All Are Welcome Here" means "Everyone I Spend Time With Shares My Exact Political and Religious Affiliation and Everyone is WRONG."

And a Rosa Parks or MLK quote means they call the cops on black people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the (preliminary) news that the vaccine efficacy wanes significantly in 5-11 YO change your views on masking?

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizerbiontech-covid-vaccine-less-effective-ages-5-11-new-york-study-2022-02-28/

No but it does shift my views on vaccines for kids (as in I'm less interested in them at this point). I have a not-quite-5 year old and after the news that the under-5 vaccine doesn't really work, and now news that the 5-11 vaccine doesn't really work, I am wondering what the point is of vaccinating my kid?

I support removing the mask mandate when cases are low and then, when cases are high, distributing high quality masks to kids at school and to adults in other high risk places. I am extremely over this thing where we all scurry around trying to obtain masks for ourselves and our families and half the time the masks don't fit right or it turns out they don't do much or the masks we actually need suddenly cost $90/box or are sold out everywhere. My issue with masking isn't "boo, I don't want to do it." It's that we've outsourced it to individuals and now we are getting mad at individuals for being burned out on it. It's a public health measure.

Imagine if the vaccine rollout had been: Hey everyone, see if you can find the right vaccine on Amazon or these random Korean websites, self-administer them, and we'll let you know later if they work or whether that was the right vaccine. I know obviously it's different because it's not like wearing the "wrong" mask can hurt you. But after 2 years it's silly that we are still doing masking this way. Either lets do it correctly or just give up the ghost. What we do now is ineffective AND burdensome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the (preliminary) news that the vaccine efficacy wanes significantly in 5-11 YO change your views on masking?

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizerbiontech-covid-vaccine-less-effective-ages-5-11-new-york-study-2022-02-28/

No, not at all. The virus is low risk for kids, and the vaccine still offers excellent protection against severe illness. But this news does make me fearful that it will increase the desire among anxious parents and teachers to keep masking kids, no matter how little masks realistically do to protect kids at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does the (preliminary) news that the vaccine efficacy wanes significantly in 5-11 YO change your views on masking?

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizerbiontech-covid-vaccine-less-effective-ages-5-11-new-york-study-2022-02-28/

No but it does shift my views on vaccines for kids (as in I'm less interested in them at this point). I have a not-quite-5 year old and after the news that the under-5 vaccine doesn't really work, and now news that the 5-11 vaccine doesn't really work, I am wondering what the point is of vaccinating my kid?

I support removing the mask mandate when cases are low and then, when cases are high, distributing high quality masks to kids at school and to adults in other high risk places. I am extremely over this thing where we all scurry around trying to obtain masks for ourselves and our families and half the time the masks don't fit right or it turns out they don't do much or the masks we actually need suddenly cost $90/box or are sold out everywhere. My issue with masking isn't "boo, I don't want to do it." It's that we've outsourced it to individuals and now we are getting mad at individuals for being burned out on it. It's a public health measure.

Imagine if the vaccine rollout had been: Hey everyone, see if you can find the right vaccine on Amazon or these random Korean websites, self-administer them, and we'll let you know later if they work or whether that was the right vaccine. I know obviously it's different because it's not like wearing the "wrong" mask can hurt you. But after 2 years it's silly that we are still doing masking this way. Either lets do it correctly or just give up the ghost. What we do now is ineffective AND burdensome.

Doing it "correctly" would mean making kids wear truly tightly fitted respirators all day, and that would be cruel. Those leaky and therefore comfortable KF94s and KN95s won't do it. No, we need to accept that kids will catch this virus, and allow them to build immunity at a low-risk age so they can be less vulnerable by the time they get older, since they will have to live with this virus for the rest of their lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does the (preliminary) news that the vaccine efficacy wanes significantly in 5-11 YO change your views on masking?

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizerbiontech-covid-vaccine-less-effective-ages-5-11-new-york-study-2022-02-28/

No but it does shift my views on vaccines for kids (as in I'm less interested in them at this point). I have a not-quite-5 year old and after the news that the under-5 vaccine doesn't really work, and now news that the 5-11 vaccine doesn't really work, I am wondering what the point is of vaccinating my kid?

I support removing the mask mandate when cases are low and then, when cases are high, distributing high quality masks to kids at school and to adults in other high risk places. I am extremely over this thing where we all scurry around trying to obtain masks for ourselves and our families and half the time the masks don't fit right or it turns out they don't do much or the masks we actually need suddenly cost $90/box or are sold out everywhere. My issue with masking isn't "boo, I don't want to do it." It's that we've outsourced it to individuals and now we are getting mad at individuals for being burned out on it. It's a public health measure.

Imagine if the vaccine rollout had been: Hey everyone, see if you can find the right vaccine on Amazon or these random Korean websites, self-administer them, and we'll let you know later if they work or whether that was the right vaccine. I know obviously it's different because it's not like wearing the "wrong" mask can hurt you. But after 2 years it's silly that we are still doing masking this way. Either lets do it correctly or just give up the ghost. What we do now is ineffective AND burdensome.

Shows you how useless masks are if you don't believe wearing the wrong kind can hurt you.

[Anonymous]

The latest from Bowser:

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1498670741843333125?s=20&t=gF7aOFQKUceIUDTkq0GbmA