The Unity Group of Chattanooga strongly agrees with the assessment that has been given by groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the ProtectMyCare doctors from across this state. The use of masks in schools should not only be a required prerequisite, but it should be just the first of many necessary mitigation strategies employed as we deal with the recent spike of the Delta-variant strain of COVID-19. It is paramount that our primary concern should be to place the safety, health and welfare of school staff and students first above all other priorities.
Dr. Vidya Bansal, a pediatrician associated with ProtectMyCare, gave this frank assessment to the Williamson County School Board, “Kids don’t die from wearing masks; kids are dying from COVID in Tennessee as recently as last week. Your choice is to pick one: masks in schools, or widespread COVID in schools.” A similar WZTV report also indicated that the most recent data from the Tennessee Department of Health shows that over 25 percent (more than 6,500 children) of the new COVID cases in the last two weeks are school-aged children 20 and under.
This rapid surge also alludes to other public health measures that should be enhanced as well. The community would greatly be served by being better informed on the overall strategies and protocols which will be used for both mitigation and in those instances where COVID-19 should be identified within schools. Many of the common measures that have been adopted across the nation include: (1) the use of masks; (2) smaller class sizes; (3) social distancing; (4) upgraded ventilations system; (5) sanitation and deep cleansing; and if necessary, contact tracing followed by a period of quarantining after exposure. Likewise, we agree with many of the safe school reopening strategies that have been advocated by the American Federation of Teachers, such as vaccine priorities for school staff, forming local safety committees, establishing situation rooms and periodic building walk-throughs. In addition, appropriate accommodations should be afforded to school staff and students who have compromising medical conditions and ailments that would prevent the wearing of facial coverings.
It is also incumbent on all of us to come together in a cooperative spirit in order to mitigate this health crisis. The safety, health and welfare of children and schools should not be weaponized, nor politicized, through acts of malice or intimidation such as the stripping of school funding or calling for a special session of the legislature for making a conscientious decision that is based on credible medical facts, data, or on-the-ground conditions. While we can all concur that as citizens of this nation we enjoy many of the individual freedoms which derive from the Constitution, those liberties are superseded when our actions may cause irreparable harm or has the potential to endanger the welfare of others. During rare occurrences such as public health emergencies, we must do what is in the best interest of maintaining the public welfare and act in the interest of the good of the whole.
It is also worth noting, this very principle has been embellished in the law. The Supreme Court affirmed in Jacobson vs. Massachusetts that, “a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members." As long as it is not unreasonable, abstract or arbitrary in nature, public health mitigation strategies should only be conducted as temporary measures to help avert and alleviate impending crisis or emergencies.
COVID-19 is recognized as a communicable ailment. The key indicators such as the new rate of infections and hospitalizations suggest that the delta-variant is a grave and imminent threat all, which includes school-aged children. Conjointly, the American Academy of Pediatrics is detailing that there were nearly 94,000 new child COVID-19 cases throughout the nation on last week alone. The medical community is universally in agreement on the use of mask in schools as a safe mitigation strategy. Similarly, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation report also notes that over 60 percent of parents polled favor the use of mask for school staff and children. By virtue, this is a policy we should readily adopt without further delay. Where the safety, health and welfare of children are concerned, it is far better to err on the side of caution than to offer future regrets on failing to act on the impending threats for which we are now forewarned.
Unity Group of Chattanooga,
Pastor Charlotte S.N.N. Williams
Eric Atkins
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Hamilton county school leadership should have defaulted to this famous quote, when making their mask announcement (intended to protect children?) today:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”
Try opting out of that.
Michael Mallen
Health, safety and environmental attorney
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"Masks Don't Work - Review of science relevant COVID-19 social policy", a June 25, 2020 report details the physics and biology of viral respiratory diseases and the why masks don't work. In a nutshell, viruses are very, very tiny and the number of viruses needed to make you sick is very, very small.
The excerpt below is taken from the report noted above.
"Unknown Aspects of Mask Wearing"
1. Do used and loaded masks become sources of enhanced transmission, for the wearer and others?
2. Do masks become collectors and retainers of pathogens that the mask wearer would otherwise avoid when breathing without a mask?
3. Are large droplets captured by a mask atomized or aerolized into breathable components?
4. Can virions escape an evaporating droplet stuck to a mask fiber?
5. What are the dangers of bacterial growth on a used and loaded mask?
6. How do pathogen-laden droplets interact with environmental dust and aerosols captured on the mask?
7. What are long-term health effects on mask users, such as headaches, arising from impeded breathing?
8. Are there negative social consequences to a masked society?
9. Are there negative psychological consequences to wearing a mask, as a fear-based behavioral modification?
10. What are the environmental consequences of mask manufacturing and disposal?
11. Do the masks shed fibers or substances that are harmful when inhaled?
Dr. Fauci said in February, 2020 masks were not effective protection against the virus.
Excerpt from Townhall article dated May 2, 2021, "Fauci knew masks didn't work and told people not to wear them." Townhall also reported on the communications with individuals and media outlets in which Fauci advised against mask wearing for travel, told a medical school dean not to mandate masks, and stated the flimsy masks most Americans were forced to wear were ineffective at stopping the spread of Wuhan coronavirus."
Phil Snider
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Could anyone explain how the Obamas held a huge bash in the playground of the rich and famous, Martha’s Vineyard with zero condemnations from the enlightened progressives?
Oh wait! Will we get a rehashing of “the dis-inviting some to keep the numbers down” story and how they verified vaccinations? Those tales seem a little disingenuous if we are expected to believe CDC accounts of fully vaccinated people spreading the virus.
There were other problems. The Vineyard Gazette described airport chaos from the number of private jets as celebs popped in. The manager was quoted as being fearful they would run out of fuel. Neighboring Nantucket ran out recently and the Green New Deal hasn’t even kicked in.
This gala is reminiscent of the elaborate revels for the Romans or French aristocracy. At the Obama shindig, the progressive elites gleefully danced the night away in maskless indifference. Then they winged their way back to their mansions in those private jets.
Meanwhile we are in conflict struggling about sending our children to school in masks or not and what to do with rising numbers of infected in hospitals. The elites don’t bother with that, they do as they please. Their answer to our conflict would be, “let them wear masks!”
Ralph Miller
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I simply cannot understand the mindset of parents who are militantly opposed to their children being asked to wear masks in school.
Do they think the media is fabricating the numbers of patients in hospitals fighting for their lives?
Or are they just opposed to being “asked” to send their children to school with masks in principle.
Whether you believe there actually is a pandemic and masks do or do not help prevent the spread of COVID is irrelevant- saving lives is the only issue here and unless you are qualified to become the surgeon general of the United States, please defer to the experts and most importantly, the school board who is desperately trying to prevent another total shut down of schools.
If you feel so strongly that masks are not necessary please home-school your children and know I have the right to expect my children will not be at risk sitting next to a non-masked student.
Dawn Devine
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Ms. Devine,
Unfortunately, we parents who don’t want our children to wear a mask to school, it is our right. You are wanting segregation based on a medical choice. That same mentality was used over 60 years ago in schools to separate the races.
How dare you say that just because we have our own reasons why our family chooses not to send our child to school in a mask we should homeschool? I pay the same county/city/state taxes you do, therefore we have the same legal right for public school as you do.
Let me ask, during flu season do you send your child to school in a mask? Our children have been going to school for how many years with all the crazy viruses and we never sent them in a mask before.
Dianna Bender
Hamilton County Parent