Re: First day of school, no masks...

The masks don’t work anyway. Let the kids breathe…and see each other smile.***

ClemBoro
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First day of school, no masks...
Aug 12, 2021, 8:53 AM
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My kids attend a private school, masks are optional. Today was the first day back to school and my kids and one other family were wearing masks. While I do believe masks should be optional and I'm not going to tell anyone what to do personally, I was concerned with the lack of masks. It's optional, I get it, but at the same time I'm worried if the general population doesn't wear masks as the variants spread, another shut down will be imminent. We wear our masks because both my wife and I work full time (I own a company and I am self employed, I need to be present at work) and we do not have the support system of grandparents or relatives around us. Shut downs are a logistical nightmare for working parents with no assistance. I would also like to get back to attending concerts, football games, and other crowded events if others would vaccinate and wear masks temporarily, it could help return to normalcy. The lack of mask at school are a small sample of what I expect at sporting events this fall, concerts, or other venues for crowds gather, increasing the likelihood of more people being susceptible to contracting the virus or a variant thereof.

just my opinion of course but anyone that mandates masks for children or anyone that makes their children were a mask when it is not required should be arrested for child abuse. but hey that is just my opinion.

o2bnclemson

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Aug 12, 2021, 10:51 AM

My son is in a public charter school in SC and masks are not required. Some may wear them, most do not, including my son. I have told him to do his best to keep a distance (6') from other students and to wash his hands between classes. I've been working at my office the whole time - never have we closed the office - and 4 out of about 50 tested positive and none were serious in any way. Most of them think they contracted the virus by exposure outside our workplace. We have our own offices (social distancing) and exercise common sense with things. It seems to have worked pretty well.

There are many problems with the mask mandate. First, it gives people a false sense of security. They forego the social distancing and the frequent hand-washing and assume the mask will take care of everything. It doesn't. Most people - especially children - wear them incorrectly and in such a way where it practically invalidates them being used at all. Look at the people who wear them. Many wear them beneath their nose, which doesn't stop many of the particles. Many tug at and adjust their masks by grabbing the front of them right in front of their mouth/nose, where all the particles would be caught, thereby transferring some of those particles to their hands and any surfaces they may touch. Second, with kids in particular, but with adults, too, they tend to wear the same mask for multiple days in a row before washing or replacing, and some do not wash or replace them at all, at which point the mask wearing can present its own health risks. Doctors replace them with great frequency. Most of us common folk don't do it at all, or if we do, it's when we lose one or something. There's no sense of making sure you're wearing a clean mask. Last, most of the masks being used are ineffective anyway, per CDC recommendations.

The last time I looked at CDC and DHEC (a couple of months ago) web sites, their recommendations were, in this order - wash your hands frequently, maintain social distancing, and wear a mask. Mask was the last thing mentioned. Hand washing and social distancing have been the only consistent recommendations. The stupid plastic fences they had up around desks were never effective. They only made people feel better, if that.

The reason for the mask mandate is simple: we can't control if people wash their hands or if they social distance. We can't look at them and say they didn't wash their hands or they stood to close to someone at the store. We can look at them and say "You need to wear a mask." And that's why the mask mandate is so popular. It's something that can be ordered and then monitored/enforced. None of the other preventative measures can be enforced or monitored as easily, even though the other measures are much more effective. Nobody says you can't enter their store if you haven't washed your hands or if you stand to close to someone else in line. But they do say that you can't enter if you don't have a mask on. It's just easier and it's obvious.

Children are still the least likely to contract COVID and the least likely to be adversely affected if they do catch it. They are also the most likely to develop herd immunity due to their youth and to the proximity they are often in with each other, like in classrooms.

Caution is good. Reasonable precautions are always good. Fear is always bad. Following blindly can be dangerous. Fully educating one's self is paramount.

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First day of school, no masks...