Reply to When can we lose masks in elementary school?

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Reply to "When can we lose masks in elementary school?"

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I agree with you but I don't know how to advocate for this because some of the comments on this thread demonstrate how hard it is to have a reasonable, science and fact based discussion of the benefits and costs of mask-wearing for young kids. People think being pro-science means being pro-mask. They think discussing the negatives of mask-wearing means you are anti-mask AND anti-science. And they think arguing that the negatives of mask-wearing might outweigh the benefits [i]under certain circumstances that are becoming more likely[/i] means you want people to die. It is hard.

I say this as someone whose 4yo has been wearing a mask to daycare/school for a year, and I was fine with it and made sure she knew how to wear it and had properly fitting masks and reinforced proper mask wearing at home. I'm not anti-mask at all and I think when case rates were high and vaccines weren't available to anyone, masks were a small price for any of us to pay in order for our kids to have some amount of in-person school and socialization.

But as case rates drop and adults get vaccinated, the costs of mask-wearing at school for kids, and especially very young children currently in the prime language acquisition and socialization window, go way up. These risks are not something you can observe just by watching your kid wearing a mask at school one day. Yes, kids are adaptable. That does not mean that wearing masks, and having their teachers wear masks, for two or more years during a vital learning window won't have costs. We need to talk about those costs. If we have an alternative means of controlling spread and protecting vulnerable adults (which we do -- vaccines), rates are low, and the risk posed to children of Covid is incredibly low, then it is simply bad science to enforce mask wearing which could have an increasingly negative impact on small children the longer it goes on.

Did that help? Anyone convinced to even entertain the idea that if case rates drop low enough, we could also drop the mask mandate in schools, at least for the youngest learners? [/quote]

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