Anonymous wrote:I have been taking this pandemic seriously. I would have felt ok in the spring last year unmasking in the classroom. Right now, with a 34 percent positivity rate, it would be ludicrous. I think it would be completely fair to have a set point where masks can be optional. Where cases are low and positivity rate is low. Now is not the time.

I think this is the approach most people will take, mandate or not. Our family, who voted for Youngkin, will continue to mask until the cases decline. Hopefully Omicron will bubble over soon and be classified as an endemic. I'm aiming for my kid to go maskless next school year.

Yes, we are in the middle.of a spike. Of course they would keep masking, no matter what any politician says.

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Anonymous wrote:My question is: when does masking the kids ever end? Kids are more likely to die in a car crash than of covid, vaccines are available. Breathing slimy, dirty air trapped in the mask is also unhealthy! It’s enough, there is no off ramp. After Omricon, there will, of course, be another variant. It’s past time for normalcy.

Vaccines are not available for those under 5.

DH and DS were at an hour long appointment with a therapist. All masked. Two days later we get a call that therapist tested positive. DH and DS never show any symptoms. Thank goodness for masks. They should keep the mask mandate until cases are much, much lower and a vaccine is available for those under 5.

There's a big difference between wearing a mask at a 1 hour therapist appointment and for 8 hours in school. Your post is irrelevant.

Masking is not preventing spread in school. Unmask them now. Here's hoping Youngkin drops the mandate, drops quarentining the healthy, and prohibits schools from establishing mask and vaccine mandates.

Remember....you can still vaccinate and mask....its just no mandated!

The point is that wearing masks DID prevent the spread of covid. The same thing happens when they are worn in school, spread is prevented. And masks work best when everyone is wearing them - the unknowingly infected person breathes out into their mask, not onto someone else.

We have more cases now than before the vaccines and masks. They measures are not preventing spread!

And, we should not be masking the heathy “ because they don’t know they are infected”.

We have more cases now because too many people in this country are idiots and didn’t get vaccinated early on (combined with the fact that rich countries didn’t help enough to get poorer countries vaccinated), which allowed the virus to mutate to a much more transmissible variant

This post doesn't make any sense. We have more cases now because Omicron is highly transmissible, an order of magnitude higher than Delta. And to slow transmission, N95s are needed. The cloth masks aren't effective against Omicron. Then variants. Delta and Omicron didn't come from this country.

Anonymous wrote:I have been taking this pandemic seriously. I would have felt ok in the spring last year unmasking in the classroom. Right now, with a 34 percent positivity rate, it would be ludicrous. I think it would be completely fair to have a set point where masks can be optional. Where cases are low and positivity rate is low. Now is not the time.

This.

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Anonymous wrote:Aside from the ASD mom above who I can understand the concern from I am baffled as to why people are so eager to get rid of masks for kids. Mine are 10 and 14. They do not complain at all about wearing them indoors. My neighbors don’t seem to have an issue with their kids doing so either. IRL I do not know any kids who are champing at the but to be unmasked.

I do. But why cant your kids wear a quality mask and mine not wear one? One way masking works. So, your kids are “protected” and others can make their own choices. The degree to which we’ve allowed an infringement on liberties is appalling. We don’t even have the data to support it.

No thanks. I know the maskless kids (the same ones who barely wear them now or they don’t stay on) are the same ones whose families dine indoors regularly or hang out with other maskless people in crowded places. They masked kids will by definition be riskier than the masked kids.

I have been taking this pandemic seriously. I would have felt ok in the spring last year unmasking in the classroom. Right now, with a 34 percent positivity rate, it would be ludicrous. I think it would be completely fair to have a set point where masks can be optional. Where cases are low and positivity rate is low. Now is not the time.

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Anonymous wrote:Aside from the ASD mom above who I can understand the concern from I am baffled as to why people are so eager to get rid of masks for kids. Mine are 10 and 14. They do not complain at all about wearing them indoors. My neighbors don’t seem to have an issue with their kids doing so either. IRL I do not know any kids who are champing at the but to be unmasked.

I do. But why cant your kids wear a quality mask and mine not wear one? One way masking works. So, your kids are “protected” and others can make their own choices. The degree to which we’ve allowed an infringement on liberties is appalling. We don’t even have the data to support it.

Okay. People also forget that there are children in FCPS buildings with severe medical needs that cannot mask already or who can mask but have underlying conditions. You are saying that your child has rights but so do the other kids. They have a right to a safe learning environment.

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Anonymous wrote:When we moved to Florida, masks were my biggest concern. But you know what? Kids are doing just fine in schools without wearing masks. I still wear mine much of the time. But, I kinda feel duped by the hyper vigilant mask brigade in DC/NoVA. We have lots of Covid. But, so do you. Schools did not shut down here. Kids just aren’t getting very sick. Very few people are. My father-in-law is 86 years old. Most of his friends have had it. They all have multiple medical conditions. They all did fine. My FIL had a cough. That’s it. I’m not suggesting we ignore the risk. We are all fully vaccinated as is everyone I know. We wear a mask in crowded places. Sadly, some people will get really sick. Just like they do with other viral infections. We can take steps to minimize risk without destroying mental health. This isn’t going anywhere.

I’m not an anti-masker. I am fully vaccinated. But I do think the DC area attracts type A control freaks. And this, my friends, simply cannot be controlled.

I’d like to follow you — where are you are how are the schools?

We are near Tampa. It was a culture shock for sure. I miss a lot of things about DC. But, I do think think a saner approach to this awful pandemic could have really saved a lot of heartache. We need to take it seriously. We need precautions. But I think areas like DC and NoVA just went way, way overboard. And people still got sick.

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Anonymous wrote:I think this is not going to be an issue in Fairfax County. I was under the impression that Youngkin was going to get rid of the state mask mandate that requires all students, teachers, staff, and visitors age 2 and older to wear a mask indoors in private and public PreK-12 school settings, regardless of vaccination status. This includes private religious schools. But he was going to allow individual school districts and private schools to make their own decisions regarding mask mandates. I can't imagine with our woke school board that they will do anything but keep the mask mandate in place.

Now, in a year, if the pandemic becomes endemic but some districts still have mandates, I could see at that point Youngkin would prevent mask mandates. Individual students or teachers would still be allowed to make their own decisions, but FCPS would no longer be able to mandate masks.

^^This is what will happen.

If that's the case - I hope the FCPS school board will be tempered by the 2022 midterms, into a masking off ramp!

Anonymous wrote:I think this is not going to be an issue in Fairfax County. I was under the impression that Youngkin was going to get rid of the state mask mandate that requires all students, teachers, staff, and visitors age 2 and older to wear a mask indoors in private and public PreK-12 school settings, regardless of vaccination status. This includes private religious schools. But he was going to allow individual school districts and private schools to make their own decisions regarding mask mandates. I can't imagine with our woke school board that they will do anything but keep the mask mandate in place.

Now, in a year, if the pandemic becomes endemic but some districts still have mandates, I could see at that point Youngkin would prevent mask mandates. Individual students or teachers would still be allowed to make their own decisions, but FCPS would no longer be able to mandate masks.

^^This is what will happen.

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Anonymous wrote:My question is: when does masking the kids ever end? Kids are more likely to die in a car crash than of covid, vaccines are available. Breathing slimy, dirty air trapped in the mask is also unhealthy! It’s enough, there is no off ramp. After Omricon, there will, of course, be another variant. It’s past time for normalcy.

I am not an anti-masker, but I really hope we are not masking in the 2022-2023 school year. My youngest will be in second grade then - and have never been instructed in elementary school by a teacher without a mask on.

I’m not an anti-masker either. I teach an ES grade and I felt like we were moving towards mask optional in August. I wouldn’t have had any problem teaching without a mask at that point.

Anonymous wrote:My question is: when does masking the kids ever end? Kids are more likely to die in a car crash than of covid, vaccines are available. Breathing slimy, dirty air trapped in the mask is also unhealthy! It’s enough, there is no off ramp. After Omricon, there will, of course, be another variant. It’s past time for normalcy.

I am not an anti-masker, but I really hope we are not masking in the 2022-2023 school year. My youngest will be in second grade then - and have never been instructed in elementary school by a teacher without a mask on.

Right now there is no state mask mandate in VA and in virtually all the stores I go in, in Fairfax County - 95% of people have masks on. I think if the schools aren't allowed to have a mask mandate - the schools will still strongly encourage it - and here - probably 99% of people will still do it.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My question is: when does masking the kids ever end? Kids are more likely to die in a car crash than of covid, vaccines are available. Breathing slimy, dirty air trapped in the mask is also unhealthy! It’s enough, there is no off ramp. After Omricon, there will, of course, be another variant. It’s past time for normalcy.

Vaccines are not available for those under 5.

DH and DS were at an hour long appointment with a therapist. All masked. Two days later we get a call that therapist tested positive. DH and DS never show any symptoms. Thank goodness for masks. They should keep the mask mandate until cases are much, much lower and a vaccine is available for those under 5.

There's a big difference between wearing a mask at a 1 hour therapist appointment and for 8 hours in school. Your post is irrelevant.

Masking is not preventing spread in school. Unmask them now. Here's hoping Youngkin drops the mandate, drops quarentining the healthy, and prohibits schools from establishing mask and vaccine mandates.

Remember....you can still vaccinate and mask....its just no mandated!

The point is that wearing masks DID prevent the spread of covid. The same thing happens when they are worn in school, spread is prevented. And masks work best when everyone is wearing them - the unknowingly infected person breathes out into their mask, not onto someone else.

We have more cases now than before the vaccines and masks. They measures are not preventing spread!

And, we should not be masking the heathy “ because they don’t know they are infected”.

We have more cases now because too many people in this country are idiots and didn’t get vaccinated early on (combined with the fact that rich countries didn’t help enough to get poorer countries vaccinated), which allowed the virus to mutate to a much more transmissible variant

If Youngkin wants to go DeSantis-lite, I hope he embraces what Florida has done right (not the ban on masks and threatening to withhold funds from school districts that have mask mandates). That is, I hope he also sets up clinics for monoclonal antibioties everywhere and makes it possible to get a prescription for Paxlovid or fluvoxamine very easily, that is, no need to schedule an appointment to see a doctor, just go to an infusion clinic to get tested and if positive, you get your prescription for an antiviral filled.

As a parent of an under 5 year old, I don't like masks. This age group has a hard time keeping them on right and are having and speech and social development delays. But until hospitals are not under a state of emergency, I think everyone 2 and older need to mask indoors because masks, while they might not be great at protecting you from contracting Covid when you are in a room with an infectious person for many hours, they will cut down on one's overall viral load (fewer droplets transmitted although it doesn't stop airborne particles from getting through after many hours). A smaller viral load mean my vaccinated ES students will get an asymptomatic or mild infection and that in turn means my child who cannot be vaccinated will hopefully get a smaller dose.