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Febuary 14, 2022
Opinions The Merionite
Why mask? It’s time to ask
Thomas Swope Mathematics On March 8, 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated during an interview with 60 Minutes that “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.” On April 3 of that year, the CDC updated its guidance on facial coverings, recommending Americans wear facial coverings “in public settings when around people outside their household, especially when social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.” Dr. Fauci also appeared on Fox & Friends and stated that viewers should “wear some sort of facial covering when you’re in public and can’t socially distance, because of new information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak as opposed to coughing and sneezing.” In July of 2020, the CDC said “cloth face coverings are a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19 that could reduce the spread of the disease, particularly when used universally within communities.” Dr. Fauci and the CDC have credited a growing understanding of the virus and new evidence for these changing guidelines. The CDC’s website cites nine studies as evidence for the efficacy of wearing masks to slow the spread of COVID. The first study cited was done in Bangladesh in late 2020. In the study, approximately 340,000 individuals from 600 villages were broken into a control group and an intervention group. Over an eight-week period, the study did find increased occurrences of COVID in the non-masked control group. The control group had 1,106 symptomatic individuals. The masked group had 1,086. There was a difference of twenty cases. This represents 0.0059% of the study’s population, or a 1.8% increase in infection rate. Additionally, the CDC failed to mention that the masked group also socially distanced and received additional education, while the control group did neither. If we were to apply the change in spread that was seen in the Bangladesh study to our school, we would see an increase of approximately 0.09 COVID-19 cases over an eight-week period based on the Bangladesh population’s infection rate. Extended over the school year, there would be 0.44 more cases of COVID-19 if the school did not socially distance or wear masks. Alternatively, you could multiply the number of COVID cases by 1.018. A recent study in Denmark which consisted of 3,030 participants wearing masks and 2,994 not wearing masks found that “the difference observed was not statistically significant.” A study conducted by the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences, which made use of data from the CDC, found that “case growth was not significantly different between mandate and non-mandate states at low or high transmission rates, and surges were equivocal.” A May 2021 study from the CDC from 160 Georgia schools found that incidence of COVID-19 for students in schools mandating masks “was not statistically significant compared with schools where mask use was optional.” In addition to the growing evidence that mask mandates do not slow the
Compliance with the science
spread of COVID in any meaningful way, experts have increasingly begun warning about the side-effects of masking students, citing negative impacts on social, emotional, and mental development. These side effects should not be understated or ignored. Drs. Neeraj Sood and Jay Bhattacharya recently asserted, “Masking is a psychological stressor for children and disrupts learning. Covering the lower half of the face of both teacher and pupil reduces the ability to communicate. Specifically, children lose the experience of mimicking expressions, an essential tool of nonverbal communication. Positive emotions such as laughing and smiling become less recognizable, and negative emotions get amplified. Bonding between teachers and students takes a hit. Overall, it is likely that masking exacerbates the chances that a child will experience anxiety and depression, which are already at pandemic levels themselves.” There can be little argument that teens have been heavily impacted by the interventions that have been put in place to fight COVID. Increased isolation and stress has led to a 22.3 percent increase in ER trips for suicide attempts in the summer of 2020 compared to the summer of 2019. There was a 39.1 percent increase during the winter of 2020 compared to the previous winter. An NWEA study showed that the average student was three to six percentiles behind in reading and eight to twelve points behind in math, which translates to being four months behind in reading and five months behind in math. The CDC’s guidance on masks has continued to change throughout the pan-
While 2022 has brought relative normality to school life so far, elements of school during the peak of the pandemic are still evident: mask mandates, case counts, vaccination rates, and the lingering threat of returning to virtual school all inhibit the prospect of fully returning to pre-2020 LM. Naturally, many people have started to question whether LM can begin to lift mask mandates as vaccination rates increase and case counts decrease in order to regain a sense of normality. While some now consider the plastic garments that adorn our faces more of an accessory than a necessity, it is essential that LM continues to uphold its mask mandate in order to protect public safety and uphold our duty as citizens.
demic. On May 13, 2021, they advised that fully vaccinated people can stop “wearing a mask or physical distancing.” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters that “anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physically distancing. If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that we have stopped doing because of the pandemic.” In December, she also tweeted that “cloth masks are little more than facial decorations and should not be considered an acceptable form of face covering.” We’re now almost two years into what was initially billed as “two months to flatten the curve.” During these two years, businesses and schools have closed. We’ve been told to socially distance and wear masks. At LM, we’ve canceled field trips, graduations, and sports seasons. We now have vaccines that greatly reduce the severity of COVID. Ninetynine percent of new infections are currently Omicron, whose main symptom is a runny nose. COVID is not going away; it’s here to stay, just like the flu. We need to decide how we should address it moving forward. Emotions and fear should not drive such important decisions; instead they should be made based on science and data. The science is clear—it’s time to end the mask mandate.
Even as vaccination rates in our community continue to climb, it remains undeniable that the threat of COVID-19 lingers behind the rapid tests and booster shots. Despite the decreasing case numbers nationwide (even in the wake of the Omicron variant), the Center for Disease Control still recommends universal indoor mask use for all faculty and students in K-12 schools regardless of vaccination status, and the American Academy of Pediatrics urges that all students above the age of two wear a mask. These recommendations are not voiced without sufficient evidence: numerous studies have shown that mask wearing notably reduces the spread of COVID-19. A study of North Carolina districts found that, of over one million students and staff members in public school districts from March to June 2021, over 7,000 adults and children acquired the virus but still attended school while infectious, resulting in more than 40,000 fellow student and staff members having to quarantine. However, through testing and contact tracing, only 363 children and adults exposed to those 7,000 infected peers actually contracted the virus. This is indicative of the effectiveness of masks: had all members in the study not worn a mask, the 5 percent rate of transmission would
Caryl Shepard ’22 Editor-in-Chief
Graphics by Emma Liu ’22/Staff
have been much higher. It is important to note that in all of these districts, no additional cautionary measures besides masking were taken, and rates of vaccination were not uniform among every school. Masking, however insignificant it may seem, clearly mitigates the spread of the novel coronavirus. What would happen if masks were not mandated by the school district? Despite LM’s remarkably high vaccination rate, this move would still present a gamble to the already-transitioning district. As evidenced by a high school in Israel, reopening without mask mandates remains a risky move. When the school reopened without instituting masking requirements and social distancing, they promptly had to shut down again after ten days after reporting a large COVID-19 outbreak of 153 students (13.2% of total student population) and 25 staff members (16.6% of total faculty population). Even in the era of the vaccine, lifting mask mandates does not guarantee a lower rate of transmission. Recently, when mask mandates were made voluntary in states like Missouri and North Carolina, both COVID-19 cases and days missed due to quarantine increased, prompting many districts to reinstate mandatory mask mandates. Thus, the data is clear: wearing masks reduces the spread of COVID-19 and creates a safer schooling environment. Aside from the plethora of data emphasizing the efficacy of mask-wearing, it is our duty as citizens of a functioning society to look out for our fellow humans. By living in a society, we relinquish certain freedoms in order to maintain a society. We give up a sense of complete freedom to live peacefully with others and maintain a governing body. As stated by renowned philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau in his work The Social Contract, we relinquish our natural freedom for a new sense of civic freedom. Part of this civic duty is ensuring that you do not willingly harm your neighbors or acquaintances. While you may not be concerned as to whether or not you catch COVID-19, or consider it your personal right to not wear a mask, it is your duty to take the necessary precautions to ensure that your neighbor does not acquire the virus. Just as you would not inflict violence on a neighbor, you should not expose your neighbor to a public safety risk. Therefore, it remains essential to undergo the minimal personal discomfort associated with wearing a mask to uphold our end of the societal contract. Finally, some who still oppose mask mandates despite the innumerable evidence and pleas to consider the more vulnerable members of society point to other evidence which undermines the efficacy of mask-wearing. But, even if masks are not 100 percent foolproof, what is the harm in continuing to wear them? According to the Mayo Clinic, numerous studies have shown that wearing face masks produces no negative effects. Therefore, even if masks seem somewhat uncomfortable, LM guarantees its safety and ability to uphold its end of the social contract by maintaining its current masking guidelines. Additionally, while case counts in Montgomery County continue to decline, eliminating mask guidelines now could result in a return to midDecember case count numbers, where the Omicron variant led cases to average 1,532 daily, over 1,000 more cases than today’s average. To protect others in Montgomery County and keep case counts low, it is imperative that LM maintains its current masking guidelines. With substantial evidence supporting the benefits of mask-wearing in schools and the necessity to uphold our end of the social contract, LM must continue to operate with its current masking guidelines.
Disclaimer: The opinions above are not indicative of LMSD health policy guidelines and are merely expressing the thoughts of the authors.
