Reply to How many schools still have indoor mask requirements?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People who think kids should continue to mask because that *feels* safer, despite contradicting all the advice from experts, are not really any different from all those people in Florida who refused to ever wear masks because freedom.

Either way, personal are substituting their own feelings for sound medical advice. [/quote]

Yep. Just as embarrassing and anti-science.[/quote]

Oh FFS. You have no clue what the actual, applicable data says. Many, many leading experts have criticized the CDC and its guidance, and recommended continued masking:

[list]Dr. Peter Hotez, Texas Children's Hospital, Director of Center for Vaccine Development, creator of patent-free covid vaccine[/list]
[list]Dr. Jerome Adams, 20th US Surgeon General[/list]
[list]Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Mina, formerly of Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and director of Harvard Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, now Chief Science Officer of eMed.[/list]
[list]Dr. Gregg Gonsalves, PhD, professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)[/list]
[list]Dr. Mark Kline, Physician in Chief, Children's Hospital of New Orleans[/list]
[list]Dr. David Gorski, surgeon, editor of Science-Based Medicine[/list]
[list]Dr Ellie Murray, epidemiology assistant professor, Boston University[/list]
[list]Dr. Kimberly Prather, Director of Center for Aerosol Impacts[/list]
[list]Dr. Jose-Luis Jimenez, chemistry professor, leading expert in aerosols, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder[/list]
[list]Oni Blackstock, pcp/HIV physician, Founder/Exec. Director, HealthJustice[/list]
[list]Dr. Benjamin Neuman, Texas A&M University, chief virologist at its Global Health Research Complex[/list]
[list]Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Professor of Medicine and Surgery, GWU[/list]
[list]Anne Sosin, Policy Fellow, Global health & rural health equity, Dartmouth College[/list]
[list]Mindy Fullilove, MD, The New School[/list]
[list]Josh Garoon, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison[/list]
[list]Elaine A. Hills, PhD, Public Health Scientist[/list]
[list]Jeoffry B. Gordon, MD, MPH, California Physicians Alliance[/list]
[list]Dannie Ritchie, MD, MPH, Brown University, Community Health Innovations of Rhode Island[/list]
[list]Kaliris Y. Salas-Ramirez, PhD, The City College of New York[/list]
[list]Sam Friedman, PhD, NYU Grossman School of Medicine[/list]
[list]Robert G. Wallace, PhD, Pandemic Research for the People[/list]
[list]Edgar Rivera Colon, PhD, USC Keck School of Medicine[/list]

Even the American Medical Association said the new isolation quarantine guidance was confusing and risked further spreading covid, and just last month urged continued masking.[/quote]

You are welcome to listen to these people and continue to mask so you can protect yourself.  I will continue to not mask since I am vaccinated and just had COVID.  I think it's insane that my vaccinated kid who also just had covid has to mask at school.  No one is trying to stop people from masking, but may of us want the option to remove them because we feel like there is enough evidence to support it.  Our charter will be the last place in America to drop masks.[/quote]

When your child had covid, they easily could have spread it to other kids.  Saying you are vaccinated helps with your child health, not others.  Clearly being vaccinated alone isn't enough or your child would not have gotten covid.  [/quote]

But study after study shows that kids don’t really transit the virus at school.  It’s possible but rare.  There comes a point when the costs of masking to young children outweigh the benefits, particularly when kids are at extremely low risk for hospitalization and death from covid, even unvaccinated.  Add to that that many kids can be vaccinated, and high risk kids can wear a kn95.[/quote]

I can cite article after article detailing that students do in fact spread the virus at school — and while several aerosol studies have shown children transmit at a smaller incidence rate than adults, studies about transmission in schools have documented (1) it does occur and (2) transmission among children is significantly higher when unmasked. This high quality study included children who were unmasked, and found no difference between adult/children transmission; further, most of the transmission happened in schools. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2784812

In other words — you can’t have your cake and eat it too. If you want to claim covid is spread less so than in the general community, then in that same breath you must credit masking. Yes, other countries have students unmasked, blah blah blah, yeah — but they have invested more heavily in testing, filtration and ventilation, whereas we’ve just given up.

Regarding these theoretical downsides to masking vs. the known risks of unfettered spread — the risk to children of hospitalization or death is far greater than other illnesses we take great effort to prevent. That line of thinking is a shimmy and a jump away from full-on anti-vax, congrats. More importantly, there are no therapeutics available for at-risk children under 12, and children under 5 still cannot be vaccinated. Until everyone has access to protection, it screams privilege to demand that everyone live their lives when many cannot. Schools must remain safe so that all students, not just the privileged ones, can attend. If N95s weren’t enough to protect the thousands of medical professionals who got sick while wearing PPE, I’m puzzled why you think K95s, which are not regulated because they’re not an OSHA certified work safety product, will protect high-risk children — especially when they’re still having maskless lunch indoors.[/quote]

This has got to be a joke. Look at DC Covid data and check out how many children aged 0-19 died of Covid in DC, across all wards, races, and socioeconomic classes. ZERO! Kids are at the lowest risk of hospitalization and death. Also check out the moderna vaccine study of 6700 kids. None (including on control) got seriously ill or required hospitalization. Our schools are safe from Covid but in danger from Covid zero people. It is endemic folks. Unless the whole world quarantines together for a few weeks, this bug isnt disappearing, but it also isn't as deadly given the safeguards we have available now. For adults, we have vaccines, free tests galore, free masks, hospital bed availability, and effective treatment protocols.[/quote]

Just because no kids in dc have died does not mean no kids have died.   And its not just about kids dying.   How many kids lost their parents!    How many of those kids brought home Covid to their parents that killed them?[/quote]

NP. If that happened, it is obviously tragic. However, it is not an argument for mask mandates in schools at this point of our life with the virus. Parents should get vaccinated, and if they do, their risk will be extremely low. If they are still at high risk due to severe comorbidities, their kids should wear a high quality mask. A mandate on all children will add marginal benefit at best, and is not sustainable in the long run.[/quote]

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