Masks Coming Down. Will Cases Go Up? (concurrently published on myLot)

 

Last Thursday, our Governor declared that schools, offices, and stores should drop their mask mandates and move to voluntary masking for those who still prefer to be protected and protect others. As a result, my principal, after polling the staff and parents, announced that beginning February 28, our school would become a mask optional facility. Interestingly enough, because of this change, we are having to update our procedure for how we handle class-wide and school-wide quarantines. 

We have to do this because, though we haven't had a single case of COVID transmission traced to our school since we went back to in-person learning in August of 2020, we anticipate eliminating masks could possibly result in more than a few. What gets to me is the flawed logic behind eliminating the masks. 

Anti-maskers claim students are being adversely affected by having to wear masks. Valid scientific studies show otherwise. National Geographic has an excellent article on this.

nationalgeographic.com Science Article: Do masks really harm kids? Here's what the science says.

I have not decided if I will discontinue wearing my mask or not. I am double vaxxed and boosted and know the vaccine works. 

I also know the mask I wear is over 90% effective at stopping virus-sized particles from passing through. I know this because a study by the same independent research lab that found single-layer cloth masks are only 40% effective tested the 3-layer plus filter masks like I wear. 

For those not aware, the declaration that cloth masks aren't effective was made concerning the testing on single-layer cloth masks. The data on triple-layered masks was ignored by the anti-maskers and the media. 

As for being vaccinated: the graphic I've used at the top of this post kind of says all that needs to be said about that.