Reply to Maryland matches CDC mask guidance

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Good news that MSDE is following CDC guidance. So MoCo and preschool/daycare directors - are you going to be the ones to make sure toddlers and preschoolers and their teachers are the only ones left masking, or are you going to align yourselves with public health guidance?[/quote]

This was announced a few weeks ago and masking for two and over was always simply recommended. Directors and owners who continue to follow this advice or doing so as a business decision.

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What was announced a few weeks ago. I only see the letter posted above, dared March 2 (yesterday).

Yes, we KNOW it is optional. Thank you for repeating that af nauseum. I also know our provider has not surveyed families. And, this decision does impact children's development, so there should be more than just "business" involved.

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+1.  When I’ve contacted MSDE about this I got similar replies, “oh it’s only recommended, not required!”  Just completely missing the point that their recommendations are followed by many providers- and I can’t really blame the providers for doing this, they need something to refer to when making these decisions.  This gives them cover to remove the masking requirement, unless of course MoCo comes along with a special recommendation refuting the state and CDC, which is bound to happen.[/quote]

It makes you feel any better, [b]Montgomery county came out a couple weeks ago and also said masks were no longer required in daycares.[/b] Even though they were never really required but their language made it seem like it was. But now they outright said it wasn’t.[/quote]

Can you provide a link to this please?

People on this thread and others on the topic of daycare covid policies don't understand that each county makes it's own guidance and rules and is not required to follow state guidance.[/quote]

I received an email.

On February 22 the mask mandate in Montgomery County was lifted for indoor settings, including child care. At this time, they are still required in public schools, public transportation (Metro, Metro Bus, and Ride-On), and in the incorporated cities of Gaithersburg, Takoma Park, and Rockville city buildings.

Despite the mandate being lifted, child care programs can continue to require staff and children or visitors to wear a mask. The County is strongly recommending those in our child care community who have not received their booster continue to wear a mask while in their child care settings.

It was not a link so I’m sorry I can’t provide that. [/quote]

For those who want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, watch the County Council session from two days ago. Dr. Bridgers explicitly stated that universal masking is still recommended in child care and that, stunningly, the county plans to create its OWN updated guidance after the CDC and MSDE finish updating their child care specific guidance documents. Montgomery County always has to be special. I am assuming they want toddlers and preschoolers to mask indefinitely, and if that turns out to be true I will never listen to a word they say ever again.[/quote]

JFC. I am so sick of this county and don’t understand why they are always pulling sh-t like this. So Dr. Bridgers is the one to write to then? And county council members?[/quote]

I mean sure but I don't think it will matter. Honestly I think they will dig in solely to show that they can and to stick it to people they perceive as "privileged". Nevermind questions about how effective masks as worn by toddlers are in these settings or the very real developmental concerns. The fact that ASHA is seeing increased rates of speech delays is nothing for us to worry our pretty little heads about right? [/quote]

I think it goes beyond the view that daycare families are privileged, although that’s part of it. But there are also some county employees who see it as their job to “protect” kids from their parents that would dare to put them in childcare during a pandemic.  They did not agree with reopening daycares to the general population in summer 2020, they thought it should still be for essential worker kids.  Hence all the guidance/restrictions that have always been more strict than the state.[/quote]

JFC

There should really be a reckoning. Keeping a young child at home while trying to work full time is not only extremely stressful for the parent but is also damaging to the child. As much as I hate masking of young children, the social isolation is even worse as well as the impacts of being put in front of a TV the whole time. To emphasize, I think masking of young children is stupid and possibly harmful, and I also recognize that this pandemic has impacted young children in a lot of other ways that have definitely been harmful.

I have a relative who does high level public health work (on COVID) for another state and she made it clear to us at the beginning of the pandemic when we were agonizing about child care and how COVID safe it would be, that we needed to make choices on what was best for our child's development, because early childhood is a really critical time and COVID is not a high risk for our child (thankfully, we are not high risk). The idea that it was somehow better for families to keep their children home than to have them in child care is ridiculous and I would honestly consider it the equivalent of malpractice in terms of public health. Their attitude towards masking is just more of the same.
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