Anonymous wrote:It's just not that big a deal to wear a mask. I can't believe how overdramatic people are about it. It's not that big of an inconvenience. I wear one at work, my son wears one at school, he often forgets he even has it on and forgets to take it off when he gets home.

Honey, you are an ableist. There are tons of people with autism and other disabilities who have a very difficult time with it.

Do you want people to wear a mask indoors for the rest of their lives, because Covid isn’t going away? That’s a bit nuts. The point is that at some point, we need to decide that Covid is under control enough to categorize it as endemic. We’re probably pretty close to that in the DC area - vaccination rates are high, deaths and hospitalizations due to Covid are relatively low. That’s an endemic state.

I wish people would stop with this mask debate. Moderate voters might actually vote in a republican governor over mask mandates in schools. That would be a terrible outcome and put in jeopardy voting rights, women's healthcare, and actual educational policies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grader doesn’t feel safe at school unmasked. They chose to eat outside alone (chilling out and watching YouTube) rather than unmask with someone else. Says they have plenty of other opptys to socialize, when masks are on. I hope masks stay for the duration!

Nobody is making them take off their masks. Please keep wearing them if you would like. The rest of us just want to make that choice for our own kids like you have.

Yeah phuck you and the previous poster advocating for endless masks.

You scared? Stay home.

Since when does a tiny minuscule group impose on the majority? That ain’t American. Please move. Wonder why you don’t… hmmm

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grader doesn’t feel safe at school unmasked. They chose to eat outside alone (chilling out and watching YouTube) rather than unmask with someone else. Says they have plenty of other opptys to socialize, when masks are on. I hope masks stay for the duration!

Nobody is making them take off their masks. Please keep wearing them if you would like. The rest of us just want to make that choice for our own kids like you have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher at an elementary school where kids have to wear masks all day, including at recess.
Very few kids have a problem wearing their mask at recess. I supervise recess duty for half an hour daily at my school for first graders. They all are perfectly able to wear masks. It simply isn't a problem.

My child’s teacher made a similar comment. I was blown away because my son constantly asks when he can stop wearing it.

Yeah, with all due respect to the teachers, the kids do what they're told to do but my daughter asks at least 3 times a week when she can stop wearing the mask. Just because they follow the rules, doesn't mean "it simply isn't a problem".

It's hard for these young kids to navigate social relationships with each other and new adults when they cannot see any facial expressions. Also some of them still have speech issues they are working through and the masks make it even more difficult on this front. It's not normal. To me, of course mask indoors where the benefit is still evident at this point in time when they are not able to be vaccinated. But masking outside is theater and it is has real negatives that outweigh doing it.

Sure kids want to stop masking. We teachers do, too. I have to wear it all day along with a voice amplifier so the kids can hear me!
But kids are absolutely capable of wearing these masks at recess. They complain to parents because you are their parents. My teen complains to me too. But she can wear her mask at practice and at her outdoor job. We can do hard things.

BIG mf-Ing LOL to any moron who still wears masks outdoors. You have been lobotomized successfully and programmed accordingly just how the powers that be want it. Stop breeding (if you care about the planet)

Bottom line: in Europe where covid was not politicized, children do not wear masks because there is no science to support it.

Here: supporting children not wearing a mask, even if you really want to end masking, will get you called a maga, etc so people fearfully continue complying with the virtue signaling charade despite harm to their children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the anti-maskers in this thread: my five-year old son is immunocompromised and we would not feel safe having him school if there was no mask mandates before he's vaccinated. Sometimes you have to stop thinking about yourself and what amounts to a minor inconvenience so my son can go to school and, you know, not get really sick from a horrible disease.

Do you mean stop thinking about yourselves and think only of me, me, me?

Right. All school children in America should have to suffer for a few outliers. Aren’t you in support of D L forever? Why don’t you just homeschool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP poster with the immunocompromise child:

-First, it looks like some folks were arguing for no masks indoors.

-Second, once kids at that age have an opportunity to get vaccinated, masks should be optional for all indoors. I do think we are living with this for the long term and it is a lot to expect masking in schools.

-Third, for nearly every kid, it is a minor inconvenience. I am sorry if it is not for your kid. I really do not care what they are doing in Europe. Most countries there had real lockdowns and are in a different place.

Fourth, I have no idea what happened to immunocompromised kids prior to the epidemic because my child became ill 8 months ago.

Many of the European countries where masks aren't required actually have worse stats than the US, especially compared to the DC area. But as you said, you don't care about the facts. This is just about your beliefs at this point.

You appear to be the one who does not care about facts.

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0924-school-masking.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-with-face-mask-requirements-had-fewer-covid-19-outbreaks-cdc-study-finds-11632515562

Haha - did you even read those studies? First, they're not random control trials! If you want pure observational studies, then I give you most of Northern Europe.

As for the limitations in those studies (which were a joke):

For Arizona study
-Not adjusting for community cases in Maricopa Co rising more during the study (95% of school cases come from the community!)
- Maricopa also had a lower vaccination rates: 47.6% vs 59.2% in Pima
- Schools with masking requirements included younger kids (greater % elementary, fewer middle/ high), and had fewer students enrolled

For larger study
- Didn't control for vaccination rate for kids or adults (including teachers) in the communities studied (the most important variable!)
- Looked at kids' cases 0-17, not just school aged, and included kids not even attending school
- only went out 2 weeks after school start (at height of cases in the South, where masking is much less common)
- cases were rising faster in the no mask group prior to schools reopening
- Says "causation cannot be inferred

Here's a UCSF Med School's Professor's description of such studies' limitations:
https://vinayprasadmdmph.substack.com/p/two-new-cdc-studies-on-masking-in

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the anti-maskers in this thread: my five-year old son is immunocompromised and we would not feel safe having him school if there was no mask mandates before he's vaccinated. Sometimes you have to stop thinking about yourself and what amounts to a minor inconvenience so my son can go to school and, you know, not get really sick from a horrible disease.

Do you mean stop thinking about yourselves and think only of me, me, me?

That would be an interesting concept.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP poster with the immunocompromise child:

-First, it looks like some folks were arguing for no masks indoors.

-Second, once kids at that age have an opportunity to get vaccinated, masks should be optional for all indoors. I do think we are living with this for the long term and it is a lot to expect masking in schools.

-Third, for nearly every kid, it is a minor inconvenience. I am sorry if it is not for your kid. I really do not care what they are doing in Europe. Most countries there had real lockdowns and are in a different place.

Fourth, I have no idea what happened to immunocompromised kids prior to the epidemic because my child became ill 8 months ago.

Many of the European countries where masks aren't required actually have worse stats than the US, especially compared to the DC area. But as you said, you don't care about the facts. This is just about your beliefs at this point.

You appear to be the one who does not care about facts.

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0924-school-masking.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-with-face-mask-requirements-had-fewer-covid-19-outbreaks-cdc-study-finds-11632515562

Anonymous wrote:To the anti-maskers in this thread: my five-year old son is immunocompromised and we would not feel safe having him school if there was no mask mandates before he's vaccinated. Sometimes you have to stop thinking about yourself and what amounts to a minor inconvenience so my son can go to school and, you know, not get really sick from a horrible disease.

Do you mean stop thinking about yourselves and think only of me, me, me?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher at an elementary school where kids have to wear masks all day, including at recess.
Very few kids have a problem wearing their mask at recess. I supervise recess duty for half an hour daily at my school for first graders. They all are perfectly able to wear masks. It simply isn't a problem.

My child’s teacher made a similar comment. I was blown away because my son constantly asks when he can stop wearing it.

Yeah, with all due respect to the teachers, the kids do what they're told to do but my daughter asks at least 3 times a week when she can stop wearing the mask. Just because they follow the rules, doesn't mean "it simply isn't a problem".

It's hard for these young kids to navigate social relationships with each other and new adults when they cannot see any facial expressions. Also some of them still have speech issues they are working through and the masks make it even more difficult on this front. It's not normal. To me, of course mask indoors where the benefit is still evident at this point in time when they are not able to be vaccinated. But masking outside is theater and it is has real negatives that outweigh doing it.

This. Kids are not going to ask their Teachers when they can take the mask off because kids know that they have to wear it at school. Their parents are sending them to school and telling them to wear the mask so the kid do. They are not going to ask the Teacher or complain to the Teacher. I would expect them to say something to parents and not Teachers. My kid doesn't ask but sighs when I remind him he needs a mask for Scouts or for going to volleyball or before he goes to school. He knows he has to wear it but he doesn't like it. He will wear it because he wants to go to school in person and he like his activities but he will be more then excited when he doesn't need the mask.

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP poster with the immunocompromise child:

-First, it looks like some folks were arguing for no masks indoors.

-Second, once kids at that age have an opportunity to get vaccinated, masks should be optional for all indoors. I do think we are living with this for the long term and it is a lot to expect masking in schools.

-Third, for nearly every kid, it is a minor inconvenience. I am sorry if it is not for your kid. I really do not care what they are doing in Europe. Most countries there had real lockdowns and are in a different place.

Fourth, I have no idea what happened to immunocompromised kids prior to the epidemic because my child became ill 8 months ago.

Many of the European countries where masks aren't required actually have worse stats than the US, especially compared to the DC area. But as you said, you don't care about the facts. This is just about your beliefs at this point.