Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AEM has a hilarious poll right now on what your kid will do tomorrow, with some of the nuttiest comments underneath. Some people think masks stop the stomach flu (a non-respiratory virus that's prevented via handwashing)! LOL

It's a ton of people who don't follow the science or have any perspective or risk.

This pandemic and the corresponding social media posts have made me realize that Arlington is one of the most educated counties full of absolutely stupid people.

There’s other things people are weighing as well, like are they willing to risk their pricey spring break vacations if their family get Covid leading up to spring break. So I’m hearing many plan to mask through then.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AEM has a hilarious poll right now on what your kid will do tomorrow, with some of the nuttiest comments underneath. Some people think masks stop the stomach flu (a non-respiratory virus that's prevented via handwashing)! LOL

It's a ton of people who don't follow the science or have any perspective or risk.

This pandemic and the corresponding social media posts have made me realize that Arlington is one of the most educated counties full of absolutely stupid people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are still masking for the foreseeable future.

I tried talking to my kid this morning about treating everyone with the same kindness at school whether they were wearing a mask or not and he was legitimately offended, saying that people who were not wearing masks were failing to take care of the people in the community who had lower immunity levels or at risk people at home, and I said we would have to continue the conversation this evening (because, though I didn't say it, he wasn't really wrong and I don't know a great response to this argument).

Your son sounds like a nice kid. I can tell you my perspective as the parent of a mildly autistic kid. Despite his disability, in March 2020 he was a happy, outgoing, curious, albeit awkward kid. The APS decision to abandon all teaching for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year was disastrously bad for him because it cut him off from some great teachers and kids. We are glad that school (eventually) reopened but the masks present two challenges to him. First, under the best of circumstances (without masks) understanding subtle social cues and messages is a significant challenge for him. But with everyone wearing a mask it's nearly impossible. He has more or less decided that making friends is a code he will never crack and having a friend is not something he really even thinks about anymore. He comes home from school exhausted and dispirited nearly every day from trying to decipher the world. Second, he has sensory issues and wearing a mask is uncomfortable for him, both with respect to the feeling of the mask on his face and just plain simple breathing. Weirdly though, even though he is fully vaccinated and has had covid, part of him is also scared of taking off his mask because he has received angry reprimands from so many adults who have no idea of his situation but have convinced him that the mask is saving his life. Every time I see a post from an adult that no child minds wearing a mask, I feel like screaming.

Bottom line, the happy, outgoing, curious kid from March 2020 gets through his day by taking 15 mg of Lexapro every morning.

I read this and wanted to cry. I really feel for kids in this pandemic and especially vulnerable kids who have really not been considered. Hope he is able now to develop friendships more easily with the masks off.

I feel bad for this kid, too. It does seem like some folks are saying that it's okay to want to help one another as a society by taking masks off so this kid can try to read other people's expressions, but it's a step too far to want to help one another as a society by keeping masks on to prevent transmission and stop people from becoming severely ill and/or dying from the disease. I hope this kid starts to have an easier time, but I must say we will still be wearing masks because for us the calculus weighs heavier on the side of reducing spread and preventing death and severe illness. YMMV.

Have you been hiding under a rock? Covid has spread. It’s here. It’s everywhere. It’s not in a night market in China (I mean, it’s there too). There is literally nothing anyone has done anywhere to prevent or even mitigate spread. Even the vaccine doesn’t stop spread! Stop lying to yourself, your kids and our kids!

I'm not the person you're responding too, but as of today VDH reports a total of 40,149 COVID cases ever. Arlington County's population is 234,842. Clearly COVID is not everywhere. I'd venture to say a lot has been done to prevent and mitigate the spread.

Do you have any idea how many people I know in Arlington who got COVID since last December and didn’t even bother PCR testing/reporting to the health department? And that doesn’t include all the people who had mild/asymptotic COVID and didn’t even know it. There’s been way more than 40k COVID cases in the county and yet our hospitals never were at capacity and no one under 40 has died. The vast majority of deaths were over age 70 and pre-vaccine. Why is it so hard for people to accept the cat is out of the bag on this virus and we can’t contain it. Time to accept it like we do all the other risks that come with being alive.

Anonymous wrote:The most commonly sited reason I see here and in conversations IRL for ending mask mandates is people are tired of them. History won’t be kind, and rightly so. This isn’t like the flu epidemic when people did the best they could with the known science. People now are ignoring science and prioritizing convenience. Not everyone (there are kids with legit needs that cannot be met wearing a mask), but a disappointing number. I hope I’m able to come out of this still believing it is important to help others, but I sometimes wonder.

Anonymous wrote:AEM has a hilarious poll right now on what your kid will do tomorrow, with some of the nuttiest comments underneath. Some people think masks stop the stomach flu (a non-respiratory virus that's prevented via handwashing)! LOL

It's a ton of people who don't follow the science or have any perspective or risk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are still masking for the foreseeable future.

I tried talking to my kid this morning about treating everyone with the same kindness at school whether they were wearing a mask or not and he was legitimately offended, saying that people who were not wearing masks were failing to take care of the people in the community who had lower immunity levels or at risk people at home, and I said we would have to continue the conversation this evening (because, though I didn't say it, he wasn't really wrong and I don't know a great response to this argument).

Your son sounds like a nice kid. I can tell you my perspective as the parent of a mildly autistic kid. Despite his disability, in March 2020 he was a happy, outgoing, curious, albeit awkward kid. The APS decision to abandon all teaching for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year was disastrously bad for him because it cut him off from some great teachers and kids. We are glad that school (eventually) reopened but the masks present two challenges to him. First, under the best of circumstances (without masks) understanding subtle social cues and messages is a significant challenge for him. But with everyone wearing a mask it's nearly impossible. He has more or less decided that making friends is a code he will never crack and having a friend is not something he really even thinks about anymore. He comes home from school exhausted and dispirited nearly every day from trying to decipher the world. Second, he has sensory issues and wearing a mask is uncomfortable for him, both with respect to the feeling of the mask on his face and just plain simple breathing. Weirdly though, even though he is fully vaccinated and has had covid, part of him is also scared of taking off his mask because he has received angry reprimands from so many adults who have no idea of his situation but have convinced him that the mask is saving his life. Every time I see a post from an adult that no child minds wearing a mask, I feel like screaming.

Bottom line, the happy, outgoing, curious kid from March 2020 gets through his day by taking 15 mg of Lexapro every morning.

I read this and wanted to cry. I really feel for kids in this pandemic and especially vulnerable kids who have really not been considered. Hope he is able now to develop friendships more easily with the masks off.

I feel bad for this kid, too. It does seem like some folks are saying that it's okay to want to help one another as a society by taking masks off so this kid can try to read other people's expressions, but it's a step too far to want to help one another as a society by keeping masks on to prevent transmission and stop people from becoming severely ill and/or dying from the disease. I hope this kid starts to have an easier time, but I must say we will still be wearing masks because for us the calculus weighs heavier on the side of reducing spread and preventing death and severe illness. YMMV.

Have you been hiding under a rock? Covid has spread. It’s here. It’s everywhere. It’s not in a night market in China (I mean, it’s there too). There is literally nothing anyone has done anywhere to prevent or even mitigate spread. Even the vaccine doesn’t stop spread! Stop lying to yourself, your kids and our kids!

I'm not the person you're responding too, but as of today VDH reports a total of 40,149 COVID cases ever. Arlington County's population is 234,842. Clearly COVID is not everywhere. I'd venture to say a lot has been done to prevent and mitigate the spread.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I am hoping some folks look back on this in a couple weeks and admit their fears were overblown.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I am hoping some folks look back on this in a couple weeks and admit their fears were overblown.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me, had nothing to do with politics. CDC has clear guidance on mask wearing. We now live in a low transmission area, which means masks aren’t required. The Federal govt, citing CDC guidance, has dropped the requirement to wear masks in federal buildings. Like it or not, folks, CDC does not believe that our children should be required to wear masks in school now .

Congratulations on offering such a unique insight on the issue. Yours is a perspective that definitely has not been posted dozens of times already. Here is your gold star. ⭐️

Anonymous wrote:For me, had nothing to do with politics. CDC has clear guidance on mask wearing. We now live in a low transmission area, which means masks aren’t required. The Federal govt, citing CDC guidance, has dropped the requirement to wear masks in federal buildings. Like it or not, folks, CDC does not believe that our children should be required to wear masks in school now .