Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mass Formation Psychosis is real.

It’s clear to me that masks are not needed in schools and do nothing to prevent the spread of COVID when attempted in schools. Easy comparisons of states/counties/schools with and without mask mandates illustrate that.

It’s also clear to me that some people are terrified of going back to normal non-masked schools and are suffering from mass formation psychosis. We must help them get over it by getting back to normal. Let us pray for them.

That's not what the studies show. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html

Those debunked CDC studies have been widely discredited, even in mainstream liberal publications like The Atlantic:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/12/mask-guidelines-cdc-walensky/621035/

Us DCUMers know the truth. We cannot be sheeple and we will not let mask mandates control us.

Anonymous wrote:Mass Formation Psychosis is real.

It’s clear to me that masks are not needed in schools and do nothing to prevent the spread of COVID when attempted in schools. Easy comparisons of states/counties/schools with and without mask mandates illustrate that.

It’s also clear to me that some people are terrified of going back to normal non-masked schools and are suffering from mass formation psychosis. We must help them get over it by getting back to normal. Let us pray for them.

That's not what the studies show. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html

Anonymous wrote:Mass Formation Psychosis is real.

It’s clear to me that masks are not needed in schools and do nothing to prevent the spread of COVID when attempted in schools. Easy comparisons of states/counties/schools with and without mask mandates illustrate that.

It’s also clear to me that some people are terrified of going back to normal non-masked schools and are suffering from mass formation psychosis. We must help them get over it by getting back to normal. Let us pray for them.

It may be "clear to you" but that doesn't make it true.

Gaslighting is a colloquialism, loosely defined as making someone question their own reality.

The term may also be used to describe a person (a "gaslighter") who presents a false narrative to another group or person which leads them to doubt their perceptions and become misled (generally for the gaslighters' own benefit), disoriented or distressed. Generally, this dynamic is only possible when the audience is vulnerable, such as in unequal power relationships, or when the audience is fearful of the losses associated with challenging the false narrative. Gaslighting is not necessarily malicious or intentional, although in some cases it is.

Anonymous wrote:Mass Formation Psychosis is real.

It’s clear to me that masks are not needed in schools and do nothing to prevent the spread of COVID when attempted in schools. Easy comparisons of states/counties/schools with and without mask mandates illustrate that.

It’s also clear to me that some people are terrified of going back to normal non-masked schools and are suffering from mass formation psychosis. We must help them get over it by getting back to normal. Let us pray for them.

Mass psychosis? You have got to be kidding me!

How do you all not care about mass deaths? 850,000 Americans and counting.

Mass Formation Psychosis is real.

It’s clear to me that masks are not needed in schools and do nothing to prevent the spread of COVID when attempted in schools. Easy comparisons of states/counties/schools with and without mask mandates illustrate that.

It’s also clear to me that some people are terrified of going back to normal non-masked schools and are suffering from mass formation psychosis. We must help them get over it by getting back to normal. Let us pray for them.

Anonymous wrote:It all sucks and is shameful. Yet many are at the March for Life today in DC. I see the irony in this... yes save the babies. But unmask and don't worry about the ill and elderly. Once again the Catholic Church is hypocritical.

No one is killing the elderly by not wearing a mask.

If that is your analogy, you need to go back to school.

Anonymous wrote:It all sucks and is shameful. Yet many are at the March for Life today in DC. I see the irony in this... yes save the babies. But unmask and don't worry about the ill and elderly. Once again the Catholic Church is hypocritical.

+++ you are either "pro life" or "pro choice" or you are not. It should not be "pro life" on some topics, "pro choice" on others. That is the literal embodiment of hypocrisy.

It all sucks and is shameful. Yet many are at the March for Life today in DC. I see the irony in this... yes save the babies. But unmask and don't worry about the ill and elderly. Once again the Catholic Church is hypocritical.

Anonymous wrote:One thing to keep in mind: the supposed benefits of masking or NOT masking depend on everyone doing the same thing. There’s no educational benefit of unmasking if the students’ teachers and many peers remain masked. And there’s no benefit to being masked if half your peers aren’t masked. Youngkin’s/Diocese’s approach is idiotic. DeSantis took the right approach (and DeBlasio’s approach was at least coherent, even if I disagree with it).

I think the Diocesan approach is fine. But some individual schools have really muddled things by emailing parents, they could unmask, but in the same emailing begging parents to choose masking and insisting teachers remain masked. The schools that stuck to the facts will fair better over the next week.

One thing to keep in mind: the supposed benefits of masking or NOT masking depend on everyone doing the same thing. There’s no educational benefit of unmasking if the students’ teachers and many peers remain masked. And there’s no benefit to being masked if half your peers aren’t masked. Youngkin’s/Diocese’s approach is idiotic. DeSantis took the right approach (and DeBlasio’s approach was at least coherent, even if I disagree with it).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it’s so hard to retain teachers, why do they keep increasing class size so much? 20 to 23 to 27 in last three years.

They lack the staff to split the classes of 27 into 2 parts.

In my experience they lack the classroom space to split classes -- right now, most of them are pretty much full. They have a set capacity for each class, and most are operating at or close to that capacity, not over it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Catholic schools in Arlington are on the side of parents: allowing each family to make the choice that is best for them.

This was always the plan for the Arlington Diocese—they only mandated masks in response to an executive order from Northam.

Now they are simply returning to their original plan. I don’t get the faux-outrage and surprise. We knew all along that this was the preferred path for the Arlington Diocese.

It is refreshing to see the church gone around to a pro-choice mindset!

-fellow Catholic

I had the same reaction the other day listening to some of our child's friends saying "my body my choice."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Gov’s exec order is unenforceable and will almost certainly be overturned.

As for the Archdiocese, my read of its letter is cowardice, or perhaps equally crummy legal work.

Would someone post the text of the letter? We are considering a Catholic school for next year but this could be a deal breaker for our family with vulnerable immunocompromised individuals.

You’ll face the same issue at any school, public or private in VA.

This^. If the Catholic school's decision on masking has you saying you'll just send your kid to private next year, I've got news for you. Whatever the outcome of the current spat, the odds that masks will be required in August 2022, at publics or privates, are close to zero.

Anonymous wrote:If it’s so hard to retain teachers, why do they keep increasing class size so much? 20 to 23 to 27 in last three years.

They lack the staff to split the classes of 27 into 2 parts.