Reply to Were people masked for outdoor drop-off at your DCPS today?

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[quote=Anonymous]I would like to go maskless outdoors at my kids school and was excited when they announced it. For me, it's a step that follows the science (outdoor spread is unlikely, and particularly so when case rates are low) but it also offers my child and I a little bit of normalcy. It's easier for me to say goodbye without a mask on, or to read her facial expression at pick up to understand her mood. I like the idea of having a conversation with her teacher without masks so we can communicate better and, again, I can read her mood a little more. It feels more human.

I understand why others might choose to wear masks still, and respect that choice. It doesn't harm me. However, I do wish they'd take them off because the social benefits I mentioned above would increase the more people who don't mask. Again, I'm not judging them and I'm certainly not going to criticize or shame them. I'm sure some of them DO have vulnerabilities that make them want to be especially cautious, and I understand.

But those of us who are wishing more people would take their masks off don't feel that way out of a sense of judgment or control (or at least, I don't and I think many others don't). It's literally just because we miss interacting with people without masks, especially in a school setting where you have limited opportunities to get to know teachers and fellow parents and masks have felt like social barrier for so long now. My kid is in PK4 so we've never actually had the experience of just interacting with our school normal in a pre-Covid environment. I don't know the parents of any of my child's classmates beyond a nod at drop-off. It's not a massive sacrifice but it is hard and I while I understand the pandemic isn't over, this is a tiny sliver of normalcy that I thing would benefit all of us.

So that's why it matters to me what percent of people are masked versus unmasked in these situations. I get I can't control what others do, but their decision to mask DOES impact me. A masked environment is different than an unmasked environment. Surely we can all agree on that?[/quote]

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