Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), wants parents to know that school mask mandates will remain in place for the foreseeable future, even after students are vaccinated for COVID-19.
According to Walensky, “After we have authorization from FDA and recommendations from CDC we will be working to scale up pediatric vaccination. That said, it will take some time and as I just noted as we head into these winter months we know we cannot be complacent. So right now we’re going to continue to recommend masks in all schools for all people in those schools and we will look forward to scaling up pediatric vaccination during this period of time.”
At this point in the pandemic, ample data show that children and adolescents are at near-zero risk from COVID-19.
Per the Academy (AAP), as of October 14, 6,177,946 children have tested for positive for COVID-19 in the United States.
AAP notes that, “Among states reporting, children were 0.00%-0.25% of all COVID-19 deaths, and 7 states reported zero child deaths. In states reporting, 0.00%-0.03% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death.”
In other words, children are more likely to die from the common flu than COVID-19. Yet, we have never mandated flu vaccines and facemasks in schools to stop the spread of the flu.
At this point, we also are well aware that children are extremely unlikely to be vectors of transmission for COVID-19.
As the CDC notes, “ Findings from several studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 transmission among students is relatively rare … Several studies have also concluded that students are not the primary sources of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among adults in school setting.”
So, students are practically immune to COVID-19 and are unlikely to spread the virus among their peers and adults, yet Walensky still says students must get vaccinated and continue to wear facemasks.
This raises the next question: Do facemasks help stop the spread of COVID-19? The short answer is no.
The vast majority of facemasks (not including N95 respirator masks) do little, if anything, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Moreover, forcing students to wear facemasks for eight hours per day, five days per week is detrimental to their physical and psychological well-being.
Per a study by the American Medical Association (AMA), “Most of the complaints reported by children can be understood as consequences of elevated carbon dioxide levels in inhaled air. This is because of the dead-space volume of the masks, which collects exhaled carbon dioxide quickly after a short time. This carbon dioxide mixes with fresh air and elevates the carbon dioxide content of inhaled air under the mask, and this was more pronounced in this study for younger children.”
This led the study’s authors to conclude, “Many governments have made nose and mouth covering or face masks compulsory for schoolchildren. The evidence base for this is weak. We suggest that decision-makers weigh the hard evidence produced by these experimental measurements.”
What’s more, forcing children to wear facemasks impedes their social development skills because it is impossible for them to read and interpret their peers’ and teachers’ facial expressions when they are masked-up all day.
Perhaps most troubling about Walensky’s recent statement is her unwavering support for children receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. As of mid-June, more than 300 young Americans have suffered from heart inflammation after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
Walensky also makes no mention of natural immunity. At least six million children in the United States have had COVID-19. Therefore, they have natural immunity and do not require the vaccine. However, Walensky, like so many in the medical establishment, ignores natural immunity as she pushes one-size-fits-all vaccine mandates.
Almost two years into the pandemic, the science is clearer than ever. COVID-19 poses little risk to children, they rarely transmit the virus, forcing them to wear facemasks does more harm than good, and the vaccines potentially pose more of a threat to the young than the virus itself.
This begs the question: Why in the world would Rochelle Walensky intentionally inflict distress upon children by pushing facemasks and vaccines when she obviously knows better?
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is senior editor at The Heartland Institute.
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