Connecticut’s statewide school mask mandate expires February 15. Pressure is growing on Governor Lamont to end it immediately — and for legislators not to extend it, when they vote February 10.
If the state mandate expires, local school districts could implement their own policies.
Local “Mask Choice” groups sprang up earlier in towns like Fairfield, Wilton and Darien. In the past couple of days, “Mask Choice Westport signs” appeared in front yards and public spaces.
A sign near the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge downtown … (Photo submitted by “WestportParents06880@Gmail.com”)
On social media, the handle is @MaskChoiceWestport. As of last night, an Instagram account with that name had posted 31 times — mostly links to news stories, opinion pieces and videos — and had 463 followers.
A reader told “06880”: “Parents are sending letters to Lamont, state representatives, the Board of Education, our superintendent, the Connecticut Teachers Association, and anyone else who would listen. This is the hot topic of all the parents I know right now.”
Statewide, 86% of 16- and 17-year-olds, and 79% of those 12 to 15 have received at least one COVID vaccine dose. The figure for 5- to 11-year-olds is 44%.
Cases have dropped sharply in Fairfield County since their mid-January Omicron peak.
… and the Sherwood Island Connector. (Photo/Seth Schachter)
Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice notes that the topic has caused “a great deal of division in both the public health and medical community, as well as in the school community.” The district “will continue to receive guidance from our local health district, medical advisor and the state Department of Public Health,” he says.
Scarice adds:
At the outset of the pandemic and the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, the district took a very conservative approach to our learning models and mitigating measures.
Since last January, we have learned a great deal and provided increased access to programs and services within the guidance we have been provided. Not only have we remained fully open, including extracurricular programs, we have consistently peeled back layers of mitigation when the opportunities have presented themselves. I anticipate that we will take the same approach with universal masking based on the guidance we receive.
“06880” attempted to speak with a spokesperson for “MaskChoiceWestport.” However, contact information was not immediately available.
This stupid, destructive “unmask Our Children” movement is like saying “Don’t put coats on your children in cold weather.” Worse, the signs give kids the impression that they are being harmed by the very schools they are encouraged to respect, engage in and regularly attend. Astonishing!
Where I live, in Howard County, Maryland, students and school staff have to wear masks. My thoughts are- we’ve come this far, what’s another 6 weeks? We’re in the 25th mile of the marathon, finish the race!
Then go bring up your beef to the BOE in HoCo. Hands off my kids, Jack. Covid is over, welcome to 2022.
I just weighed my mask 0.2 oz.
I think that we can all deal with that!
Jalna Jaeger RN BSN
It is my understanding that such signs are allowed in town only for charitable organizations. Non are allowed on state roads. Maybe that has changed?
No, the regulation has not changed.
Couldn’t agree more, we should all choose to wear masks. You can sign up to voice that here!
https://www.change.org/p/westport-parents-and-students-mask-choice-for-westport-schools
Susan, this is a particular bugaboo of mine. There is simply no enforcement of the sign regulations. And it’s apparently “illegal” for citizens to remove them themselves.
Stacy, it’s illegal to take down political campaign signs I believe. Not too long ago, there were persons from town hall who were the “sign police” who took down the offending signs….I wonder where they are?
To those who want to unmask kids, how about some respect and concern for the well-being of the teachers and staff who have gone above and beyond, at risk to themselves, to keep your kids in school? Have you no decency?
I hope we can all agree that Westport is an incredibly supportive school community where we all respect our teachers and staff. The level of engagement, participation and support amongst parents & school staff especially during Covid has been truly impressive. To suggest that those of us who are now advocating for mask choice for our young children is willfully putting our teachers at risk is offensive. All of our teachers are vaccinated. They can choose to wear an N95 mask all day if they choose. We know that masks protect “the wearer”. Removing the useless cloth mask from my 6 year old is not putting anyone at risk and there is zero evidence to support otherwise.
There should be designated places where anti-maskers can congregate among themselves as they wish. The majority of the community wants to be protected from this pandemic, and we have every right to do so.
Good news, “T”! You can stay home!! Super safe there. Covid is over. The majority of the PARENTS in this community want to move on. And we have every right to do so.
Lexi, you seem not to notice that thousands of Americans continue to die from COVID every week. Over? Only in the minds of the delusionals, the “Big Lie”. No, those who do right by the community — fully vaccinated and masked — are not the ones who need to isolate.
P.S. I am a PARENT with 2 children in the Westport Public School system. They are fully vaccinated, and they wear masks every time they go in public, including all day at school. They know that the public safety is more important than their personal whims. If only the anti-maskers had such common decency, the community and the world would be a better place…
Please don’t inflame the discussion with anti-masker comments. To be clear, supporting “mask choice” includes supporting those who choose to wear a mask as well. I will never tell someone to not wear a mask if they feel that is the best decision for their personal health or for their child. We need to stop the judgement and condemnation. You have every right to protect yourself. No one is trying to harm anyone here. We are just trying to find a reasonable way to move forward and acknowledge the tremendous success we’ve had to get to this point instead of living in the past and continuing to spread a narrative of fear.
That’s like supporting “stop sign choice.”
Thanks to Superintendent Scarice for following best health practices and not caving to shadowy political operatives bent on driving wedges into our community for partisan purposes. Stand strong, we support you.
Scarice’s best practices include closing school when it’s cloudy. He’s not exactly a pillar of good judgment. The only one bent on driving wedges in this community are those who won’t keep their HANDS off MY KIDS. I support my body, my choice when it comes to masks and vaccines.
Superintendent Scarice has the overwhelming support of the Westport community. Thankfully, he places the health and safety of our children over the selfish “Me First” minority who do not understand the concept of community.
And, Lexi, do you teach your kinds not to cover their mouths when they sneeze? I admit, you do have the courage to out your ridiculous position.
When the children are ALL vaccinated, then the mask mandate could end. We are not there yet. Children do fine with the masks, it seems to be a parent problem.
This is the third time I’m trying to post this comment, so let’s try it again. I wrote in response to Matt that I wear three masks and I wondered if he thought three masks were better than no masks. By the way, I lived on North Maple Avenue in the 1950s.
There is not a snowball’s chance in hell all children will be vaccinated. The vaccine and masks don’t work. You obviously don’t have kids otherwise you would realize the kids. are. not. fine. You’re right the parents have a problem. A problem with people like you hell bent on destroying our children’s childhood over the sniffles.
I have a child and two grandchildren who ALL wear masks without ANY problem.
We obviously DO have children in Westport schools. And yes, children adapt to the necessities of a worldwide pandemic. It is the parents of a few who think that the death of almost a million Americans is the “sniffles”, and that they have the right to infect those who do what is right in the best interest of the community.
You stated that vaccine’s don’t work. That is a dangerous lie that has significantly contributed to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of americans. VACCINES SAVE LIVES. GET VACCINATED AND BOOSTED!
We and our children are all comfortable wearing masks at this point. If masking saves just one life, who in his/her/their right mind would deny the necessity of doing so? Our educators and others are still at risk, so please continue to wear masks, in spite of mandates or not.
Virtually all studies around wearing masks have proven to be false, inaccurate or just plain propaganda. Cloth masks are worthless, with at best 80 µm size holes trying to stop a 1 µm virus that rides on 61 µm water vapor. Simple math tells you 62 total microns easily fits through an 80 µm space (not my calculation-CDC). Only N-95 masks work, but very few are worn properly and any improper spacing on the face leads to easy viral transmission. (do you really think school children wear their masks properly all day long? If you do, the Brooklyn Bridge is for sale, and I’m happy to sell it to you ). Less than 10% of N 95 masks are fitted properly. I’m sure the mask-crazies will all scoff at real data, but that’s just what they do.
Matt– Have you informed, physicians, surgeons, nurses, dentists, and other masking wearing medical professionals about your simple math? I’m sure after century’s of mask wearing they will be pleased to liberate themselves based on your math.
I look forward to your science-backed links informing me that “virtually all studies around wearing masks,” are propaganda or proven false.
“Consistent use of a face mask or respirator in indoor public settings was associated with lower odds of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result (adjusted odds ratio = 0.44). Use of respirators with higher filtration capacity was associated with the most protection, compared with no mask use.”
(CDC Link) https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7106e1.htm
Again, I’m looking forward to reviewing your links that I’m sure won’t be from extremist political blogs, questionable scientists or Dr. Oz.
Mark respectfully no one is asking anyone in the medical field to not wear masks. We are not denying that KN95s in surgical settings provide real protection. However the $3.99 Paw Patrol Etsy mask my 3 year old is forced to wear which comes home saturated in snot/spit and dried up goldfish is not healthy! Our children should no longer be MANDATED to wear these cloth masks which has been proven to not work as effectively as KN95s (see link below regarding cloth masks which is what majority of our children wear to school) We are not anti masks or anti anything for that matter. Parents are simply asking for a CHOICE. If you are not ready continue to mask yourself and your children it’s a free world. After 2 years it’s time to let the children BREATHE.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/tear-down-these-masks-11644019001
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20220115/cdc-updates-mask-guidelines-cloth-masks–least-effective
Michelle, you and your children have the right to not wear masks so long as you all are in isolation, and do not present any risk to anyone else if you are infected (knowingly or unknowingly). Your right to not wear a mask ends where there is any chance you or your children will cause the infection of anyone else.
Matt, is your argument that mask requirement should be more specific and stringent or is this a just straw man argument because you oppose the mask mandates in total.
Matt please do not confuse the Chicken Little thinkers with facts‼️😂🇺🇸
900,000 dead americans. Where’s the chicken little, Tom?
the Chicken Little is hiding under your 😷
My facts straight from the CDC and Johns Hopkins University. Where are yours from?
Jack, If you haven’t seen the studies on bacterial growth and oxygen deprivation due to over masking, I suggest you look it up.
That’s interesting Matt because in places like Thailand, mask wearing is very common even well before Covid. What say you?
Matt, you parse your words when you cite supposed statistics on bacterial growth and oxygen deprivation with “over masking.” Recent studies have consistently shown no significant changes in Sp02 and heart rate with wearing masks. Perhaps you are looking at studies where people wear 3-5 masks?
In many countries, mask-wearing was a cultural norm even before the coronavirus outbreak. They’ve even become fashion statements – at one point Hello Kitty face masks were all the rage in the street markets of Hong Kong. No problem there, Matt!
Signs in Westport are only allowed for charitable organizations, with written approval from the Town. None are allowed on state roads. Therefore, the signs pictured above are both ILLEGAL.
Since these signs are illegal, presumably they can be legally removed at any time by anyone. If any Westport resident who removes the illegal signs is charged with theft, then of course those individuals who placed the signs (illegally) would be charged for their crimes. If nobody claims the signs belong to them, they can be removed without consequence. If anyone claims the signs belong to them, they can be charged with illegally placing the signs. Touche’
Dr.s and nurses wear masks ALL day long. Have you ever had surgery with an unmasked Dr.? I remember the name Backiel,we were at 29 north.
I knew Andre and Johnny, who is a few years older than me. I knew your mother too. In 1941, Andre and my grandfather bottled some homemade wine in my grandfather’s basement on Old Road.
Matt Panos, until you provide the links from the CDC and Johns Hopkins, we can’t know the source of them. It may be just a Breitbart or Fox link SAYING they’re from the CDD/JHU but fake news. Help us out by giving the actual links here so we can all be informed.
Wow. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by many of these comments, but we can do better Westport. This is why more people don’t speak out publicly with their true beliefs. To be shamed or made to feel irresponsible, insensitive, uncaring, ill-informed, or worse because you are advocating to have a CHOICE as a parent after 2 years for what is best for YOUR child is unreal to me. We have all been resilient – our children especially. The burden of keeping you safe is no longer on them and quite frankly never should have been. Get vaccinated, wear a mask, wear 3 masks, don’t ever leave your house again….whatever works for you, but if we are REALLY following the science and the data, we know that it’s time to let everyone take personal responsibility for what is best for their family and not impose never-ending mandates on everyone else.
Well said and good for you. I agree with you and there are many others who have the same sentiments. Unfortunately, they generally don’t have the balls to stand up to this crowd.
The mandates are not never-ending. This will pass.
I would love to believe this, but I have yet to see an actual plan that clearly shows what the metrics will need to be for mandates to end. Everyone just keeps kicking the can down the road and hiding behind politicians who have their own motives. We will never achieve 0% transmission or 100% vaccination rates. That is simply not realistic. We need to learn to live with this or the “race” as you call it will never end. The fact that the finish line has still not been drawn should be reason enough for people to speak up.
Jack, Are you really making the argument that Thailand has figured out the science and we in the US have not? You’ve got to be smarter than that?
Matt, Re-read what I wrote at 12:41 pm. You didn’t read it carefully, especially the words “ cultural norm.”
The Japanese have been wearing masks regularly since the 1950s! It hasn’t traumatized the Japanese.
So why are you going to the highest level masks available when virtually no one has access to those masks. 95% of mask wearing are cloth masks…that are proven not to work. As I said earlier, few people wear masks correctly even when they have the kind of mask that might keep out a virus. Your argument is irrelevant.
Are you referring to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 or the COVID-19 novel virus ? The distinction is necessary.
“Cloth masks are not going to cut it with Omicron,” Linsey Marr, a researcher at Virginia Tech who studies how viruses transmit in the air, told news agency NPR in December.
Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, told CNN that same month: “Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There’s no place for them in light of Omicron.”
Also, when the government closes the southern border then will know coronavirus virus is really a serious threat. Until then, most of what the government tells us about Corona virus, masking, etc is politically driven.
Matt, You didn’t finish Dr. Wen’s statement. She said that cloth masks aren’t as good as N-95 masks because N-95 masks work the best! She wasn’t saying ALL masks are useless. She also said any mask is better than no mask.
This is ultimately about proportionality and parental choice. The goal of zero Covid and 100% vaccination will never occur and the mitigation measures currently implemented for kids in school are not commensurate in any way to the risks. Now that we have access to vaccines /therapeutics the likelihood of severe illness is extremely low for adults and the risk has always been (and continues to be) even smaller for children. As a counterpoint to the debate here our relatives in Europe have never had to mask children because policymakers understand the risk is negligible and that children’s psychological well being is critical – it’s time that authorities here follow a similar approach.
Enough already. Today’s reality is different than the novel Corona from 2 years ago. Have we not just witnessed that Omicron will “get you” whether you are are vaccinated/boosted or not? Same goes with spread. At this point, Corona qualifies as an endemic because that’s what viruses do, they mutate into weaker versions of themselves. I do not get the ‘6-week waiting period’ comment above since it’s clearly not going away. And I’ll be damned if my family has to wear this mask forever. There should be designated places for mask wearing but in schools it can NOW stop. I commend the people who put their messages (signs) out there, so that folks like me won’t feel all alone or afraid to speak their beliefs for fear of being called irresponsible or uneducated.
Going to have to echo the sentiments of Michelle, Iris and Amanda. It seems like the pro maskers above don’t even have kids in pre-k through 12th or they wouldn’t be for forcing kids to mask. Has anyone seen a kid wear a mask? As someone pointed out above, they’re all wearing cloth masks, improperly, that are soaked in saliva. Not only is it not working to combatCcovid (which my kids and probably more than half our district has already had – yay vaccines!) but it’s impeding their speech, filling their faces with other bacteria, ability to read emotions and is just making them plain old maladjusted, neurotic and weird. Time to let the kids get back to being kids. The rest of y’all can choose to wear an N95 properly, stay home, get your 12th booster or move to Canada.
Leana Wen, M.D.
@DrLeanaWen
1) First, wear a high-quality mask.
Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations and should not be considered an acceptable form of face covering. The US should require (& distribute) medical-grade surgical masks to be worn in crowded indoor spaces.
7:11 PM · Dec 20, 2021·Twitter Web App
re·quired
/rəˈkwī(ə)rd/
adjective
officially compulsory, or otherwise considered essential; indispensable.
Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen)
2/4/22, 7:28 PM
@drsajumathew I am not suggesting that it’s time to “let it rip” and pretend covid is gone. Rather, government mandates especially for indoor masking should end. We need to do far more to increase vaccination, and to ramp up testing, treatments—& to prepare for a future surge.
end
[end]
NOUN
a final part of something, especially a period of time, an activity, or a story.
Dear Ian D, I was just correcting Matt’s misrepresentation of what Dr. Wen has said. I regularly get e- mails from her and used her Twitter account to demonstrate that he was only quoting half of what she said. Now, if you don’t mind, Dan requires a real full name!
Leana Wen, M.D.
@DrLeanaWen
My point isn’t that we don’t need masks, but rather that we should require masks that are most effective to prevent disease transmission. Everyone, including children, should be wearing at least a 3-ply surgical mask when indoors & around others of unknown vaccination status.
And Lexi Jones said “trump won” in a previous column. There you have it.
There you have what, exactly? The way parents feel about Trump is entirely irrelevant to a “mask choice” conversation.
I despise Trump. He did NOT win. Yet I believe at this point mask wearing in schools should be a choice. How about that ?
Same. And I’m not sure how anyone feels about Trump is relevant to a conversation about Covid mitigation strategies. The evidence is clear the mitigation measures for kids are mismatched to the risk.
That’s another societal problem. The minute you question the narrative or the endless moving of the goal posts you are automatically a Trump supporter, anti-masker/vaxxed etc. and anything else they want to label you as. Quiet the contrary. I’m a concerned parent of elementary/toddler children who continue to live with these mandates and endless requirements to make other people feel comfortable and safe. Has anyone even looked at the rest of the world or even the US. We are only 1 of 14 states still mandating masks and covering up our youngest learners mouths!!! They seem to be doing just fine. Also no one here questions, at this point, how many deaths were actually FROM Covid not WITH Covid as we all know is now the truth! Covid isn’t going away it’s time we pivot and learn to move on safely and give parents back their god given rights to their OWN CHILDREN! They are NOT OK!
The Japanese also used Ivermectin last summer (as officials did in India in the Spring) and annihilated the spread of Covid. Our so-called officials refused to do the same thing. Jack, All of your arguments Are rooted in bad information, poor understanding of history, and faith in politically motivated health officials. Masking is dead and as a parent, I stick with my kids decision to ditch the masks.
Completely false claim. Actually, taking an already false claim and wildly expanding it.
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/ap/factcheck/false-claim-spreads-about-japanese-ivermectin-study-despite-correction/article_d0b61f72-85f0-11ec-b73c-77b0f9fab161.html
Pay closer attention, she changed her statement from saying cloth masks don’t work, to implying their less effective. It’s likely she received political pressure to change her statement. This is typical when politics rule over medicine. Read the entire John’s Hopkins study and you’ll see masks, social distancing, shutdowns, none of it worked.
Matt writes, “ It’s likely she received political pressure.” This is what you’d call pure speculation, isn’t it, Matt? As a former History teacher, thank you for setting all the 06880 readers straight that I have a poor grasp of history.
Matt, better speculation would be that she realized that anything less than complete precision with her words was going to lead the anti-vaxxers to try to twist them.
To borrow from the COVID-denying crowd of two years ago, if you don’t want to wear a mask in public, you can hide in your basement while the rest of us live our lives.
Masks are the least that one can do to help fight the spread of the virus. It is interesting to watch and see who is incapable of doing even the least.
Hi Chris! Miss ya, but I have an idea…since there are more “anti-vaxers” why don’t you chickin littlers go to your basements where you will feel safe? 😉 Just kidding…happy new year buddy.
Here’s what I find most concerning – more than if they should stop wearing masks now or in a month. MOST parents I believe are perfectly capable of having an educated and respectful conversation with our neighbors. Iris, Chrissy, Michelle, you all believe its time to unmask and that’s completely reasonable. Some others like myself would prefer to wait to see what happens in another week when the CT mandate expires and will see what our health departments says. Personally I would support the kids continuing to wear masks a little bit longer. My child and his friends have had zero issues with wearing a mask and to me its far more important for his psychological well being that he stays in school, which our covid strategies have allowed. I’m sure that some kids have issues with it, especially the younger ones. MOST of us can have this dialog respectfully.
Some people like “Lexi Jones” blow up these conversations. I’m pretty sure she’s using a fake name, She says outlandish things like Covid is over (more people died in recent weeks than the last 3 yrs of the flu) , its just the sniffles, 1/2 the people in town have had it (no), just stay home or move to Canada., trump did win the election (in another post). It’s offensive. So then you have people responding to her outrageous , probably anonymous claims with emotion. Then the people like Michelle, Chrissy, Iris who are having reasonable discussions feel attacked, or are attacked, by the people reacting to “Lexi” . My suggestion is to ignore the Lexi’s… lets continue to have reasonable dialogs with each other.
And on that note – to the reasonable ones having the dialog – some have said that this should be a choice because the mask protects the wearer. I don’t think this is fully accurate. I think it protects others as well. Secondly the argument that the masks are not good enough just means we should be wearing better masks.
Thank you Lauren. I have always embraced the round table discussion. Enough of the finger pointing and name calling. Let’s stay present, practical and reasonable. Political statements and biting sarcasm should have no place in this discourse unless we only enjoy hearing ourselves speak.
Thank you Lauren – you hit the nail on the head. Hopefully Lamont will decide in a week to turn the decision-making authority back over to the local school districts. In the event that happens, my motivation for speaking out sooner versus later is to help get the conversation going so our BOE understands the different mindset of the parents who they were elected to represent. We all have access to the latest CT Covid metrics. We all have access to various studies and reports that weigh the risk-benefit analysis of mitigation measures taken over the past 2 years. Fortunately we’ve learned that school closures and excessive quarantining is not effective. That’s progress that has only come from trying, watching and learning. No one is an expert on Covid- hence all the changing direction from the CDC during this time period. We have all been doing the best we can. My informed opinion is that we have enough data and learnings to take this next step in our schools.
Oppose mandates. Masks should be a choice, not a mandate.
Why would you point out a recent stud about Ivermectin and the Omicron Variant? We’re talking about last summer when there was no Omicron Variant and yes Japan, India and Vietnam (and others) all used Ivermectin against the Delta variant while our own government was telling us it was deadly horse medicine.
As I’ve written before, I have three more goals in life, 1) Become a stand-up comic, 2) to hit Powerball for $350 million and 3) meet Dan Woog. So here’s a little bit of humor as I post my last comment today-
How many shipping department personnel does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer, “We can change the bulb in 7 to 10 working days, but if you call before 2:00 pm, and pay an extra $15.00 dollars, we can get the bulb changed overnight.
Let’s get with the times:
https://time.com/6145291/end-mandatory-masks-schools/
I guess you’re not paying close attention. Even the CDC admits that while 900,000 people have died ‘with’ Covid, it’s likely that less than half of them died “because” of Covid. When you subtract out the almost 200,000 deaths from extended care centers and nursing homes from the remaining 450,000 who died from Covid you get about 250,000 general public deaths from Covid. The vast majority of those deaths are people over the age of 55 with three or more co-morbidities. I’m sure there are some politically motivated statistics to go against the ones I’ve quoted.
Matt, you just knocked off 650,000 Covid deaths from our statistics! How do you know all this with certainty? This is just more ‘Panos Morbidity Speculation, or PMS! Matt, stop the PMS!
Matt, you continue to make nonsensical claims. If someone who had a non-lethal preexisting condition that left them especially vulnerable to COVID died because of COVID, they died of COVID, not because of a preexisting condition. I’m not sure why you are lying misrepresenting the CDC numbers.
Also (per your other social media) there is not some conspiracy in reduction of flu numbers during this pandemic. People wore masks, worked remotely, practiced remote learning, didn’t go to restaurants, theaters, concerts, etc. Of course the flu numbers dropped dramatically – folks were holed up.
I am curious if you have such a meaningless, small life that you embrace such conspiracies relating to COVID and to the election to make you feel more “in the know” and thus “important.” It is what often motivates insecure people when faced with major events of which they have no control or influence. Pretending to have inside knowledge makes them feel less insignificant.
It is time to end the masks in school. Adults will often say kids “adapt”. While we as adults dine as we please without masks, go to sporting events etc etc. It is an unfortunate double standard and what nobody discusses is the skyrocketing anxiety, depression, eating disorders and other mental health issues related to this. Go try and get your child in with a local therapist. Month plus long waiting lists for almost everyone. We as a community overall did what we were asked. We have an incredibly high vaccination rate. Kids are human beings just like anyone on this platform. They have feelings just like anyone on this platform. Adults tend to look down at kids as subordinates and just do what your told without thinking consequences through. Imagine going to a restaurant with your partner and having a plastic window between the two of you. Adults wouldn’t accept that, yet they did it at schools and those kids spend more time with each other than spouses do. I understand that people are trying to do their best, but it’s time to move on. Attacking each other and segregating people based on masks or no masks is improper and dangerous for society as a whole. It is teaching people that segregation in certain circumstances is ok. Well…some people thought that about African Americans. This could easily spin out of control. If you feel unsafe, wear a KN95 mask and get vaccinated. I am sorry if people feel otherwise. I have multiple kids in the system and I have never seen kids so down about school.
Just came from Sherwood Island .- the sign there at Post and the ones along Route 1 are gone. Gee I wonder….
There’s a very dangerous concept going around called “People Always Noting Obvious Speculation”, also known as, PANOS. PANOS is a terrible injustice to those of us that want just the facts, and don’t want wild speculation. If you witness PANOS, please disregard it.
I love my life. And I love the lives of my husband, children and grandchildren. I wear a KN95 mask and encourage them to do the same, and they do. I realize that it’s somewhat inconvenient to wear them, but it’s more than worth it to be safe. And as long as Covid-19 is around we intend to do so.
I can’t understand why people are playing Russian Roulette with Covid-19.
I think that’s one of the points of this post. That Covid 19 isn’t going anywhere. We now need to learn to live with it and the data we have in 2022 way surpasses what we knew in 2020.
I am surprised there still so many people here who think masking, and in particular masking kids, is having any effect on COVID-19 spread and outcomes.
These kids have now been in masks in school for 18 months. The masks have had a whole host of negative effects on kids and particularly on the very young kids. It’s time to get rid of the mandate. Anyone who wants to wear a mask or 6 masks can continue to do so, and most of us will support whatever precautions others want to take for themselves.
I can walk into basically any building here maskless today, and yet our young kids are REQUIRED to spend all day in masks at school. It’s beyond absurd. Why should these young kids continue to be forced to bear the burden of the most concerned and neurotic among us?
Remember, we are advocating for MASK CHOICE. The opposite of forcing everyone to wear a mask isn’t giving people the option, rather it’s prohibiting anyone from masking. To those supportive of masks, think about how such a rule would make you feel, and you should be able to empathize.
It’s time. End the mask requirement in schools.
What is absurd is 900,000 deaths already and growing at a rate of 2,000 a day and some refuse to try everything in our arsenal , including mask wearing, vaccines etc… John Barry, author of “ The Great Influenza,” published in 2004, studied the influenza of 1918, and the worst spike came two years later in 1920. Does this sound familiar? We are mimicking the 1918 pandemic.
Don’t forget to add in the 35,000 or so now dead from the vaccine. And where do you figure in the more than 4 million+ now estimated doctor or hospital visits as a result of vaccine complications?
35,000, if you can be believed, out of 8,500,000,000 vaccinated in the world. You’d take those odds at an Atlantic City casino, right Matt?
John M. Barry, who wrote the book “The Great Influenza.”has an article in today’s NY Times. The 1920 wave was the worst, and genetic aspects of the 1918 virus continued to be present in new outbreaks, including pandemics in 1957 and 1968.
Correction, Barry’s article is in today’s Washington Post, not The NY Times. Hey, I read 10 newspapers a day, so it was an understandable mistake.
Jack, read more carefully. The CDC itself stated 1/2 the deaths were “with” Covid but not “from” Covid. Senior home deaths still count, but these are not people out in the general public. So general public deaths are about 250,000 from Covid. Simple math Jack even you can do.
The CDC themselves made the comment about 1/2 the deaths not being from Covid, not me. Don’t shoot the messenger because you don’t like the message
Medical examiners, or a coroner – have to determine what role COVID-19 played in causing a death, and there are essentially three options: 1) it was the underlying cause of death, and it initiated that chain of events that caused death; 2) it was a contributing factor and played some role, but it wasn’t the underlying cause; or 3) it wasn’t a factor at all. But In the beginning of the pandemic, there were deaths from Covid whereby death certificates didn’t reflect the true cause because we didn’t know enough about Covid, so the actual death count could actually be much higher. For example, deaths in the last three months of 2019. There were certainly deaths then from Covid before we knew there was Covid, and those aren’t counted in the statistics. So the death count is probably much higher than 900,000 in the US, and 900,000 is a conservative number. And from what I get from you, Matt, is the Covid death count, and the number of votes Trump won by in 2020 are appropriately the same!
You are 2x more likely to test positive for COVID if you are unvaccinated and 17x more likely to die of COVID if unvaccinated. Per the CDC.
Additionally, Matt is doing what he suggested the CDC did elsewhere – albeit with highly inflated figures (which is why he cites the CDC without providing links to the CDC). He seems to suggest that anyone who has had the vaccine and died has died from the vaccine.
For instance, 18 million people have had the J&J vaccine. 57 of those people later developed Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) after receiving the vaccine. Nine of the 57 died of TTS.
Approximately five per one million vaccinated develop anaphylaxis after receiving the vaccines – but that is hardly different from any other vaccinations that Americans regularly receive.
There have been 305 incidences of Guillaume Barre following the same 18.1 million J&J vaccines, but most recover fully.
Fewer than 12,000 Americans have died from VAERS after receiving 585 million of ANY of the vaccines (as I say, Matt’s 60,000 is a complete falsehood), but again, this is correlation not causation, as it is estimated that nine (the number of people on a baseball diamond) out of those 585,000,000 doses had their deaths caused by the vaccine. In a country of 300 million.
Matt is hyperventilating about the nine deaths, but I found some interesting other stats of what kills Americans:
950 die annually from lawnmower accidents
1,100 die from skiing, skating, roller-blading, and skateboarding accidents
1,400 die falling out of trees
49 Americans die annually from lightning strikes
And just like that, the results of a survey of different types of mask-wearers (an admittedly small sample size of 534 participants) from the CDC showed that, as opposed to not wearing a mask at all…
People who reported always wearing cloth masks in public settings lowered their odds of testing positive for COVID by 56%
People who reported always wearing surgical masks in public settings lowered their odds of testing positive for COVID by 66%
People who reported always wearing N95/KN95 masks in public settings lowered their odds of testing positive for COVID by 83%.
Chris, You’re forgetting that group “People Always Noting Obvious Speculation”, also known as, PANOS. There should be a PANOS Covid/Election study correlating those who believe Trump won by a landslide in the 2020 election who also pass along exaggerated Covid statistics!
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