White House press secretary Jen Psaki wants parents to know that it’s OK to send their children to school wearing masks because her daughter can wear a mask “all day.”
Psaki: I will tell you from personal experience my rising kindergartener told me two days ago she can wear a mask all day pic.twitter.com/eKVGk2hYfx
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 6, 2021
The entire debate over forcing children to mask up is approaching the surreal.
Here's me and my 3 year old wearing masks on the bus yesterday. She kept it on the whole 30 minute ride with no problems. pic.twitter.com/hw9AkWFOiC
— For there is always đź’ˇ; Jessie (@Jell0wYell0w) August 6, 2021
Hard to argue with that. Of course, there are few school days that last 30 minutes and the child isn’t even school age. But if mom says she’s OK with it…
Allahpundit calls it treating anecdotes as data. The anecdote can become an appeal to authority as in Psaki’s case. She’s the press secretary to the president of the United States so, of course, she knows what she’s talking about.
As a way to dismiss debate over wearing masks in schools, you might define that as typical of this White House.
The most pressing question of the pandemic as the start of the school year looms is whether kids are more vulnerable to the new variant than they were to previous strains. Some pediatricians insist that they are based on the number of children landing in hospitals lately, with one pediatric facility in New Orleans having recently seen the number of admissions jump from zero to 20 in the span of two weeks. Tennessee’s health commissioner told reporters that she expects all state pediatric hospitals to be filled by the end of next week due to a surge in respiratory infections — not just COVID but everyday viruses like RSV too. “Never in my career have I seen hospitals full in the summer,” she added.
Rejecting mask mandates has nothing to do with preventing parents from masking up their children. It gives parents the option of whether or not to mask their children.
But that kind of freedom of choice cannot be tolerated. We’re in a CRISIS! It’s an EMERGENCY! We can’t afford freedom for the parents and children.
The bottom line is that the mask authoritarians don’t think parents are smart enough to know what’s best for their children. “It takes a village,” remember?
NJ’s Gov. @PhilMurphyNJ: "Anyone telling you that we can safely reopen our schools without requiring everyone inside to wear is quite simply lying to you. Because we can’t." pic.twitter.com/SQNSVGQueJ
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 6, 2021
Define “safely,” governor. Will kids get sick without a mask mandate? Yes, they will. Will they get sick if a mask mandate is imposed? Yes, they will. The point the governor is missing is that in his eagerness to make a political issue out of kids wearing a mask, he forgets what happens in real life.
Children are going to get sick. Before the measles vaccine, half the kids in my grade school would be out of class on some days because they had it. Measles is a serious childhood disease that not only kills but can cause serious, permanent damage to vital organs. There was no talk of shutting the schools or forcing anyone to wear a mask back then.
The difference today is that mask posturing can be politically profitable. It’s used to demonstrate intellectual and moral superiority.
It’s government by gesture — something this White House and the Democrats are experts at.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member