Should Seattle Schools Continue Masking?
I'm interested in parents thoughts on this issue.
Crosscut reports that WA state has lifted its mandate.
Starting March 12, Washington state will no longer require people to wear masks in K-12 schools, grocery stores, retail shops, bars, restaurants and most other indoor spaces.
The state will also stop requiring masks to be worn on school buses on that date, a change that matches the updated federal guidance, Inslee’s office said.
I read that Kent SD is lifting their mandate on March 14th and:
Students and staff will have the choice to wear a mask at school, with the expectation that others’ choices will be respected. One should not make assumptions regarding someone’s beliefs or health status, nor should they comment on them. Our district will not tolerate bullying of any kind for those who choose to continue wearing masks.”
KUOW:
According to the statement, Seattle Schools will continue until further notice with their current policy, which requires all students, staff, visitors and others to mask while at Seattle school buildings. Mask use will continue to be required on buses as well.
“Future decisions on mask use within the district will be made in partnership with public health, and new policy implementation will be established after consultation and mutually agreed upon guidelines that are reached through bargaining with our labor partners,” the statement said.
The district must bargain with the Seattle Education Association before changing mask requirements.
Jennifer Matter is the president of the teachers union. She said Monday that the union wants to see mask rules lift no sooner than two weeks after spring break, or May 1, which is two months from now.
Matter said they want to see whether there's a spike in cases after the most recent break, and again see what happens with cases in schools after spring break.
Here's what the CDC says:
Effective February 25, 2022, CDC is exercising its enforcement discretion to not require that people wear masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school systems, including early care and education/child care programs. CDC is making this change to align with updated guidance that no longer recommends universal indoor mask wearing in K-12 and early education settings in areas with a low or medium COVID-19 Community Level.
CDC plans to amend its Mask Order as soon as practicable to not require that people wear masks while outdoors on conveyances or while outdoors on the premises of transportation hubs, and to not require that people wear masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school systems.
All passengers on other public conveyances (e.g., airplanes, ships*, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis, ride-shares) traveling into, within, or out of the United States (including U.S. territories) as well as conveyance operators (e.g., crew, drivers, conductors, and other workers involved in the operation of conveyances), regardless of their vaccination status, are required to wear a mask over their nose and mouth.
Here's a letter from several teachers union chapters:
Comments
On You
Eckstein parent
It would be telling if the only settings where mandatory masking remains later this month is in SPS and in hospitals, think of what kind of message that sends about how hostile SPS is to the community!
In fact, the period *before* spring break (March 11-April 11) may be the time to take a respite from masks, to test the waters and to be store up energy for a potential return to masking if we see future surges. We will need to learn to manage covid surges along with other infection diseases in schools and other public places; slow, bureaucratic responses (in either direction) will hinder response. Waiting until May 1 to make a change (when the landscape might be entirely different) is such an example of helpless slowness.
(That being said, my HS senior says that indeed they do know how to wear masks and that he believes many are willing, if it would help, and resigned even if it wouldn't)
zb
Cheers,
Theo Moriarty
Any other course is just a less damaging version of what the anti-maskers/vaxxers do.
My concerns around SPS are the teaching priorities and the objective results of state assessments. I'd rather spend energy advocating for more academic rigor and less time spent on racial affinity groups and hosting homeless camps on school property, land acknowledgements, etc.
Anonee Mouse
I do not like the MOU/bargaining form of continuing guidance on this issue, though. I think decisions to unmask (and mask) should be made more rapidly, and as the latest interviews in the Seattle Times say, there's no way to make clear decision trees on the questions going forward (say, for example, specific metrics, etc.) All decisions are imperfect.
zb
Realistic
Food for Thought
Food for thought
JK
I think masking should be maintained unitl the pandemic is over. The way the CDC has flipflopped is enormously destructive both to the population and to CDCs reputation. Masks are effective, shows the CDC's own study: When masks are mandatory there's 23% less Covid transmission than when they are optional:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/03/08/school-mask-cdc-covid-transmission/
The more cases of Covid are floating around, the more nasty variants we will get. Wearing masks is a slight inconvenience compared to getting a breakthrough case, possibly retransmitting it. When masks are mandatory, most students will cooperate, but when they are optional most students will ignore the suggestion.
This isn't science, it's wishful thinking.
Here’s some science for you: NYT review unable to confirm that blue state precautions were more than marginally effective, when compared to red states (WA state is featured). The usual caveats - this is a snapshot in time, what is true today wasn’t necessarily true at the beginning of COVID, may not be true in the future. But to insist 50k children continue wearing masks to the detriment of their education without having iron clad evidence it is necessary is ridiculous. We know COVID is now as infectious as measles, that cloth masks (allowable at SPS) are much less effective, and that families congregate outside of schools as mandates lift everywhere. I have multiple friends whose children caught COVID at school in January. More deadly variants may come through and it may make sense to put them back on. It is nonsensical to insist students bear the burden of this pandemic when the world has moved on, and we have much more sophisticated tools available. The best measure we can take is to get adults vaxxed - they’ll still get COVID but they won’t end up in the hospital.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/briefing/covid-precautions-red-blue-states.html