I am fully behind keeping schools open and have seen the restoration of mental health in my child this year as our school has been fully open. However, I don't understand how wearing a mask indoors bothers anyone? It is helpful. Studies have shown that schools that wore masks had less COVID cases and we saw locally that they areas who…
I am fully behind keeping schools open and have seen the restoration of mental health in my child this year as our school has been fully open. However, I don't understand how wearing a mask indoors bothers anyone? It is helpful. Studies have shown that schools that wore masks had less COVID cases and we saw locally that they areas who did not require masks had to close b/c they could not staff their schools when everyone got sick. Our school required masks and stayed open. I do understand that littles allegedly do not pass it to adults as much as older kids-and, perhaps, that needs to be taken into account. How do you determine who is/is not a spreader (amongst middle schoolers and teens) to the teachers that need to be there for continuity of learning. Teacher attendance has been a cluster even with the mask mandate. I hate the masks and wear one as infrequently as possible, but zero masks in schools don't make sense either. The answer to an extreme is not another extreme. But, as vax rates go up it will be time to de-mask at some point for those who are comfortable. I am not super Pro-mask in schools (especially outside or for sports--stupid) but not anti-mask either. Surgical and N95s help slow spread. I have been living my life traveling, etc during COVID and have not yet gotten it b/c of luck, good health, vaccines and strategic and respectful mask wearing.
Yes, you can find a study to give you the answer you want. It depends on the questions you ask and how you manipulate the data. Not a study, two counties side by side. My spouse teaches in a masked county. My children attend school in a mask-optional county. My spouse's county has a much higher incidence of COVID in school. I know there are other differences, including how much testing is done and how strictly policies are applied. My spouse has also made the observation that the vaxxed (because non-vaxxed are required to test, you can figure out who is v vs non-v) professionals have been out of school much more than the non-vaxxed. For the record, my spouse has natural immunity from 2020 and has not missed a day nor has spouse failed a COVID test. Individuals should have the choice to do what they are comfortable with, mask or no mask, vax or no vax, but no one should be excluded because of their choice when science is not at all clear of the efficacy.
I am fully behind keeping schools open and have seen the restoration of mental health in my child this year as our school has been fully open. However, I don't understand how wearing a mask indoors bothers anyone? It is helpful. Studies have shown that schools that wore masks had less COVID cases and we saw locally that they areas who did not require masks had to close b/c they could not staff their schools when everyone got sick. Our school required masks and stayed open. I do understand that littles allegedly do not pass it to adults as much as older kids-and, perhaps, that needs to be taken into account. How do you determine who is/is not a spreader (amongst middle schoolers and teens) to the teachers that need to be there for continuity of learning. Teacher attendance has been a cluster even with the mask mandate. I hate the masks and wear one as infrequently as possible, but zero masks in schools don't make sense either. The answer to an extreme is not another extreme. But, as vax rates go up it will be time to de-mask at some point for those who are comfortable. I am not super Pro-mask in schools (especially outside or for sports--stupid) but not anti-mask either. Surgical and N95s help slow spread. I have been living my life traveling, etc during COVID and have not yet gotten it b/c of luck, good health, vaccines and strategic and respectful mask wearing.
Yes, you can find a study to give you the answer you want. It depends on the questions you ask and how you manipulate the data. Not a study, two counties side by side. My spouse teaches in a masked county. My children attend school in a mask-optional county. My spouse's county has a much higher incidence of COVID in school. I know there are other differences, including how much testing is done and how strictly policies are applied. My spouse has also made the observation that the vaxxed (because non-vaxxed are required to test, you can figure out who is v vs non-v) professionals have been out of school much more than the non-vaxxed. For the record, my spouse has natural immunity from 2020 and has not missed a day nor has spouse failed a COVID test. Individuals should have the choice to do what they are comfortable with, mask or no mask, vax or no vax, but no one should be excluded because of their choice when science is not at all clear of the efficacy.