Covid, Kids, Masks, & Schools
And Parents and Politics
Photo Credit: by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
By Pamela Hilliard Owens
I am a retired educator who taught every grade from Pre-K through the university level. I am also a mother of six now-adult children (in a blended family) and a grandmother of two. My ten-year-old grandson suffers from asthma.
On the one hand, I am so glad that I am not teaching now in this challenging environment and also that I do not have school-aged children. On the other hand, my grandchildren and my nephews have had to deal with school these last two years.
On the other hand, I am also reminded of the decades of work done by my late father, who was a virologist and infectious diseases specialist, starting that career just before the polio vaccine came out. It was his job to research and test potential vaccines like the COVID-19 vaccines.
My dad went into that field partly because two of his older sisters died of TB in the 1930s when he was a teenager, and one of his nephews contracted polio in the 1940s.
When COVID-19, a type of SARS-2 virus, was declared a pandemic in March of 2020, it was also designated a “novel” (as in “new”) virus. COVID and SARS viruses were initially identified in the late 1800s, but THIS strain was “new.” So we were all learning about it and its effects on a daily basis.
We DID know that it was a deadly airborne virus that could be spread easily just by breathing around other people. So schools were among the public institutions that were immediately shut down, literally overnight.
It was hard on the parents who suddenly had to find care for their children during the hours their kids were usually in school and/or learn to homeschool them.
It was hard on the teachers, who had to switch their teaching to online virtual school at the push of a Zoom button.
It was hard on the kids who also had to switch to virtual school. School is not only an educational institution but also a social environment. Even the “lucky” kids like my grandson, who could relatively easily change to virtual school, experienced difficulties.
My grandson’s mother works from home. He has his own computer, his own iPad, and his own iPhone. He is naturally independent. But he, like all the kids, really missed the “social” aspect of school. Because of his asthma, my grandson has to be extra careful about his respiratory system.
But what about so many millions of other kids who did not have the same benefits my grandson had? For them, the only “internet access” they had was on their phone or the phone of others in their household. For others, the only “regular meals” they received were through specially-funded programs at their schools. Millions of kids at all grade levels just “dropped out” of school altogether.
When schools finally reopened, many administrators instituted mask mandates for both students and staff for everyone’s protection. Although children usually didn’t suffer from COVID at the same rate and/or severity as adults, several thousands of them still contracted the virus, and many died. They also unknowingly brought the virus home to their parents, grandparents, siblings, and other caretakers.
Many parents and political leaders immediately jumped on the “anti-masking” bandwagon, insisting, without scientific evidence, that masking kids was akin to “child abuse.”
Many studies, that by necessity rely primarily on anecdotal evidence, have shown that:
Mask-wearing children do not breathe in carbon dioxide
Children’s social and linguistic development is not hindered by wearing masks or by being around others who are wearing masks
Masks do not stress a child’s body or weaken the immune system.
What IS “child abuse” is children watching their parents scream at teachers and school board members, even threatening their lives. What kind of role models are these parents?
Responsible parents, while still trying to figure out the effects of COVID like we all are, teach their children that wearing masks is the socially correct and healthy thing to do and that they are protecting themselves and others by helping to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. My ten-year-old grandson, even with or especially because of his asthma, gladly wears his mask every time he goes out or goes back to “physical” school.
Children are not harmed by wearing a mask all day (especially when they can get a few “no-masks” breaks), and they actually benefit much more by being in physical school with their teachers and their friends and classmates.
Children quickly learn to “read” the eyes and body language of others who are masked, even if they cannot actually see the mouths of others. They learn how important it is to act for the “good of all,” not just the selfish “pseudo-freedom” declarations of some.
As we are hopefully finally seeing the beginning of the end of at least the worst of the COVID-19 omicron variant, mask mandates are being rescinded. Health experts still caution, however, that COVID-19 as a whole is NOT over, and people should still be very careful, get their vaccines and boosters, and wear their masks when around a lot of people they do not know.
What Do You Think?
Let us know in the comments.
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