There isn't a lot of evidence to suggest that masks for kids in school is helping with omicron spread. It's potentially useful for shorter interactions (eg store, bus) but unless everyone is wearing n95s all the time it just covid theater. My kid wears a mask all day except breakfast, lunch, snack, and nap. And when he puts it below his nose. Daycare teacher almost never has the nose covered!! Stop pretending and take them off in cases where you're gonna be in a room with someone for hours on end. I'm not anti mask. I just want people to use them when it will actually help.

I feel differently about this when it was the original strain or delta, since masks were more effective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so now you're resorting to calling pro mask people fat? You really have lost the plot, holy cow.

Hopefully that PP is 13, because otherwise, how pathetic.

I think the people wanting to discuss the issue and the studies were mostly trying in earnest to do so, even with the constant peppering of drive-by comments about how considering not masking is just selfish.

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor's granddaughter tested positive for covid. She attends a public school that has daily testing for each student. I have no idea how the school district affords this. The granddaughter was not sick nor did she ever get sick. The Mom tested positive. She had what amounted to a mild cold.
The family took off for 2 weeks and traveled around vacationing since the kid could not be in school.

Masks are still required in the granddaughter's school even though the kid got covid.

Why are we banning kids from school but allow those testing positive to travel around while positive on vacations?

I’m sorry you’re neighbors with such trash.

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so now you're resorting to calling pro mask people fat? You really have lost the plot, holy cow.

Hopefully that PP is 13, because otherwise, how pathetic.

a place for discussion to start might be MCPS's proposal to lift mask mandates in schools:

"Under the new policy, schools can lift the mask mandate — which had been in effect since September — under any of three conditions: if 80% of staff and students are fully vaccinated, if 80% of the full county population is fully vaccinated or if a county’s COVID-19 transmission rates are low or moderate for 14 consecutive days, as reported by the CDC."

Moco currently qualifies, with 83.6% fully vaccinated, according to: https://wtop.com/maryland/2022/01/despite-misgivings-md-lawmakers-approve-off-ramps-from-school-mask-mandate/

Also, I really wish the person in this thread advocating for some discussion of unmasking didn't go into the fat-phobia land. That's just unnecessary and not in the spirit of goals of the UoN toolkit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm tired of selfish people using kids as the excuse for wanting to ditch masks when over 600,000 people are contracting COVID each day.

Contracting Covid is not the issue. The issue is dying from it or hospitalization. And those that are at risk can mitigate for themselves. We don’t need, at this stage, to drag down an entire generation of children for a population at risk that can be defined and encouraged to take remedial actions.

Sorry - but the mask forever people are selfish.

+100. This sums up the situation perfectly.

Except that — to the dismay of the anti-mask crowd — most people who are advocating for mask usage at this time ARE NOT advocating for mask usage forever.

So what are you proposing are appropriate metrics or the appropriate time for masks to come off?

I really don't see many people who are supportive of masking being anything other that hyperbolic about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm tired of selfish people using kids as the excuse for wanting to ditch masks when over 600,000 people are contracting COVID each day.

Contracting Covid is not the issue. The issue is dying from it or hospitalization. And those that are at risk can mitigate for themselves. We don’t need, at this stage, to drag down an entire generation of children for a population at risk that can be defined and encouraged to take remedial actions.

Sorry - but the mask forever people are selfish.

No one is saying "mask forever." People are saying "mask now" because there is so much we don't know but we DO know that masks have helped in the past. Then we can take another of your statements "at this stage, to drag down an entire generation of children." Ye gads. Really??? An entire generation? Riiiiiiiiight.

As another poster pointed out, your hyperbolic speech causes me to discount what you're saying because you have shown in your post that you only care about your extreme.

When you stop being so dramatic then people will listen to what you're saying. Right now you sound ignorant and uneducated. Those are two different things btw.

Apologies. I should not say “mask forever”. There is no need for everyone in the DMV to mask now. None. And yes, it is 2 years of a child’s life - which is considerable. Masking is not normal and the folks like yourself who continue to insist on the all or nothing approach and negate those of us who think a more careful and focused approach is warranted should take a long hard look as to why that is. And I truly have no doubt that I am much more educated than you. Further, I suspect like so many pro maskers, you suffer from being overweight - which is understandable but again, no need to make us all mask as you have chosen your health lifestyle.

LOLOLOLOLOL....so because I disagree with you, I must be, in your opinion, overweight? And I am less educated than you? OMG. Honey, you need to go talk to your caregiver and tell them that you missed your most recent round of meds.

Thank you so much for the laugh!!!!

Anonymous wrote:Wait, so now you're resorting to calling pro mask people fat? You really have lost the plot, holy cow.

And had declared herself more educated than people she doesn’t know. No doubt!

Wait, so now you're resorting to calling pro mask people fat? You really have lost the plot, holy cow.

It's called a straw man. Go after the weakest, perceived argument-"people want to mask FOREVER"- and argue against that ridiculous position because their own has little merit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm tired of selfish people using kids as the excuse for wanting to ditch masks when over 600,000 people are contracting COVID each day.

Contracting Covid is not the issue. The issue is dying from it or hospitalization. And those that are at risk can mitigate for themselves. We don’t need, at this stage, to drag down an entire generation of children for a population at risk that can be defined and encouraged to take remedial actions.

Sorry - but the mask forever people are selfish.

No one is saying "mask forever." People are saying "mask now" because there is so much we don't know but we DO know that masks have helped in the past. Then we can take another of your statements "at this stage, to drag down an entire generation of children." Ye gads. Really??? An entire generation? Riiiiiiiiight.

As another poster pointed out, your hyperbolic speech causes me to discount what you're saying because you have shown in your post that you only care about your extreme.

When you stop being so dramatic then people will listen to what you're saying. Right now you sound ignorant and uneducated. Those are two different things btw.

Apologies. I should not say “mask forever”. There is no need for everyone in the DMV to mask now. None. And yes, it is 2 years of a child’s life - which is considerable. Masking is not normal and the folks like yourself who continue to insist on the all or nothing approach and negate those of us who think a more careful and focused approach is warranted should take a long hard look as to why that is. And I truly have no doubt that I am much more educated than you. Further, I suspect like so many pro maskers, you suffer from being overweight - which is understandable but again, no need to make us all mask as you have chosen your health lifestyle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm tired of selfish people using kids as the excuse for wanting to ditch masks when over 600,000 people are contracting COVID each day.

Contracting Covid is not the issue. The issue is dying from it or hospitalization. And those that are at risk can mitigate for themselves. We don’t need, at this stage, to drag down an entire generation of children for a population at risk that can be defined and encouraged to take remedial actions.

Sorry - but the mask forever people are selfish.

+100. This sums up the situation perfectly.

Except that — to the dismay of the anti-mask crowd — most people who are advocating for mask usage at this time ARE NOT advocating for mask usage forever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? In 4 minutes you read all of them including the embedded tweets on the studies, like the Racine one?

They are a lot more solid than McBride, et. al.

I had already read the underlying studies. It is simply not as solid as you want to believe.

.

So you say. We don’t believe you

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm tired of selfish people using kids as the excuse for wanting to ditch masks when over 600,000 people are contracting COVID each day.

Contracting Covid is not the issue. The issue is dying from it or hospitalization. And those that are at risk can mitigate for themselves. We don’t need, at this stage, to drag down an entire generation of children for a population at risk that can be defined and encouraged to take remedial actions.

Sorry - but the mask forever people are selfish.

No one is saying "mask forever." People are saying "mask now" because there is so much we don't know but we DO know that masks have helped in the past. Then we can take another of your statements "at this stage, to drag down an entire generation of children." Ye gads. Really??? An entire generation? Riiiiiiiiight.

As another poster pointed out, your hyperbolic speech causes me to discount what you're saying because you have shown in your post that you only care about your extreme.

When you stop being so dramatic then people will listen to what you're saying. Right now you sound ignorant and uneducated. Those are two different things btw.