The American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that children over the age of two should wear masks to school next fall whether they’ve been vaccinated or not. The group “strongly recommends in-person learning” and provided guidance for “a layered approach to make school safe for all students, teachers and staff.”
“We need to prioritize getting children back into schools alongside their friends and their teachers — and we all play a role in making sure it happens safely,” said Sonja O’Leary, chair of the AAP Council on School Health. “Combining layers of protection that include vaccinations, masking and clean hands hygiene will make in-person learning safe and possible for everyone.”
The statement cited no scientific studies showing masks are necessary for children, but the recommendation is being made because schools are apparently too lazy to find out which kids may be vaccinated and which are not.
The AAP said universal masking is necessary because much of the student population is not vaccinated, and it’s hard for schools to determine who is as new variants emerge that might spread more easily among children.
Children 12 and over are eligible for Covid-19 vaccinations in the U.S. And the FDA said last week that emergency authorization for vaccines for children under 12 could come in early to midwinter.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the president, said on CNN Monday that the guidance makes sense.
Fauci thinks we should listen to the “experts.”
“I think that the American Academy of Pediatrics, you know, they’re a thoughtful group, they analyze the situation and if they feel that that’s the way to go, I think that’s a reasonable thing to do,” Fauci added.
There’s nothing “reasonable” about forcing a perfectly healthy and happy three-year-old child to wear a mask — especially if the child has no underlying risk factors like asthma or an autoimmune disease.
“It’s important to use every tool in our toolkit to safeguard children from COVID-19,” Sara Bode, chairwoman elect of the AAP Council on School Health Executive Committee, said. “Universal masking is one of those tools, and has been proven effective in protecting people against other respiratory diseases, as well. It’s also the most effective strategy to create consistent messages and expectations among students without the added burden of needing to monitor everyone’s vaccination status.”
If masking is effective against other respiratory diseases as well, why not force kids to mask up year-round as a condition for attending a public school in America?
About 4.06 million children have tested positive for COVID-19, representing 5,431 cases per 100,000 children as of July 15, according to the AAP.
The organization also found a negligible number of children’s deaths from Covid. Data from 43 states shows:
- Children were 0.00%-0.26% of all COVID-19 deaths, and 8 states reported zero child deaths
- In states reporting, 0.00%-0.03% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death
The number of hospitalization for kids was also tiny. Children were 1.3%-3.6% of total reported hospitalizations, and between 0.1%-1.9% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization.
If it’s so risky for kids to go to school that they have to wear masks, why not force them to stay home? There is no logic to the AAP’s recommendation, but those who can’t bear to let go of the “health emergency” left logic behind long ago.
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