Some school districts, however, have heavily relaxed their mask mandates. According to Tim Taylor from the California Small School Districts' Association, some schools "have decided to stop disciplining or excluding students from school if they don't comply with requests to wear masks". Even larger school districts, like El Dorado Union High School District released a statement saying that they wouldn't exclude students who refuse to wear masks from campus. Students and parents are both siding against mask mandates, for example students at Oak Ridge High School staged a walkout protesting mask-wearing last week. Although the El Dorado Hills mask culture is a far cry from Bay Area mask culture, the sentiment could be similar.
In California specifically, according to the LA Times around 78% of residents have at least one vaccine, and recently less than 2% of individuals who've contracted the virus have died. It appears that spikes are beginning to die down after the most recent wave of Omicron. However, if the virus continues to spread at all, mutation is a serious risk. There are currently 10 variants being monitored, and 2 variants of concern (Delta and Omicron), but vaccination rates are high enough that further spread shouldn't be major cause for concern, especially since booster shots are shown to heavily improve protection against the disease. In a school situation though, students who contract the virus could spread it to their (possibly aging) parents or even grandparents. Even if states are ready to relax mask wearing in public areas, should schools follow suit?
Questions:
If mask wearing rules are loosened outside of schools, would it make a difference if students wore masks in school?
What would it take for schools to go maskless?
What are the political implications of Gavin Newsom easing restrictions quickly? Could this be to appease disgruntled Californians and not because he thinks it's right for public health?
How should we learn from other countries' models (on both sides of the spectrum) for fighting the pandemic?
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/23/world/covid-19-tests-cases-vaccine
https://edsource.org/2022/some-california-school-districts-are-defying-state-law-and-making-masking-optional/667805
https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-coronavirus-cases-tracking-outbreak/
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant-classifications.html
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2022-02-24/los-angeles-county-eases-covid-19-indoor-mask-mandate
1 comment:
I think that if mask wearing rules loosened outside of schools, I think it could make a difference if students wore masks in school. By lifting the mandates outside of school, I think many would take advantage of not having to wear one in public anymore. Like I said in a previous blog post, people have already become more relaxed when it comes to wearing masks at gatherings and are going out more (as given by the superbowl example in blog post). With it being normal to not wear one in public, I think a lot of students will start to think that wearing them in school is no longer important or necessary and will become used to not having to wear one. For me personally, even if the mandate is lifted, I would still probably wear a mask in public and at school to not prevent contraction and spreading of the virus. While we are entering the endemic phase, I think that there is still possibilities for new and more dangerous variants to come in to play. While I know that we cannot remain scared of the virus forever, I think that safety still matters during this time.
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