From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, most children have been confined to their home, learning remotely or transitioning to homeschooling with their family. However, after a year and a half of the ongoing crisis, many schools are choosing to reopen for in-person schooling, despite new waves of cases skyrocketing nationwide. The question facing many schools as they prepare to reopen for classes has been whether or not to require masking as a requirement for students and staff.
Masking has been shown since the beginning of this pandemic to be one of the best methods to prevent the spread of the virus, yet has been incredibly divisive among many. While masking was mandatory in just about all states during the early days of the pandemic, restrictions have been easing nationwide in recent days, especially as vaccination rates have been climbing and more of the general population is protected.
However, two crucial problems are facing schools this fall; firstly, none of the Covid vaccines currently available are fully effective against the Delta variant, which has been sweeping across the country. Secondly, none of the vaccines available have been approved for children under twelve, meaning that every student in elementary schools and many in middle and high schools will be completely unprotected.
Even as schools have yet to reopen for the fall, things are already looking dire for children as the country resumes its lifting of restrictions. Around the country, children’s hospitals and pediatric units are overfull, with the infrastructure of the nation’s healthcare stretching thinner and thinner as it fills beyond capacity. Even children in the hospital with illnesses unrelated to Covid are at risk from this surge, as the available resources to help children with other critical conditions wane as hospitals fill.
With all of these concerns, many are surprised to see how many schools are fully reopening for in-person schooling at all, especially with few or no options for opt-in hybrid or fully remote students. Remote schooling as it has existed for the last several years, while the best option for eliminating covid transmission amongst children, has presented myriad problems for families, children, and teachers. It has resulted in major learning gaps for many children, stunted social and emotional development, and a serious lack of resources for children who need it most, such as special needs children and those from low-income families. So while in-person schooling does present many health concerns, there are many good arguments for providing options for students to return to school. However, the further decision to not require masking of any students, vaccinated or no, is especially startling.
Of course, masking is just one of many ways that schools can mitigate the risk of transmission. Providing maximum ventilation, having students socially distance themselves from one another, preventing mixing classrooms of students together, and putting other physical barriers in place can all minimize transmission risk. However, doubts have risen from parents and teachers alike about the capability of the public school system to enforce any of these systems. Managing to separate students is a challenge, especially for younger students who struggle with impulse control and understanding the boundaries in place. Adequately ventilating schools presents a serious logistical challenge, as many school buildings are large, antiquated, and lack robust ventilation systems.
Given all of these concerns, requiring masking for children only seems logical. However, as masks and vaccines have become so heavily politicized over the past several years, local governments and school districts are hesitant to enforce such requirements for fear of public backlash.
Most concerning is that these schools without masking mandates are also generally in the places of the country in which there is a startlingly low rate of vaccination among adults and a high rate of infection in the general population. These high-risk communities are the most likely to have further outbreaks among children, but have the fewest protections in place for preventing them.
One source of optimism does present itself in the vaccine, which public health experts have been racing to approve for use on children for months. Once the vaccine is approved for children, schools may quickly become a much safer place as children have a level of immune defense against covid, even one that is not maximally effective against the Delta strain. However, given that the schools with the most relaxed mask policies are also those with a currently rock-bottom vaccination rate, it’s unclear if vaccines are going to be received by the children who are most at risk and most in need of the protection a vaccine can offer.
While it’s impossible to fully predict the ramifications of what these mask policies will mean, experts predict that schools will become hotbeds for covid transmission. The already thinly stretched hospitals could become dangerously over capacity, with those needing emergency lifesaving medical assistance being delayed or denied care. Children’s health could start taking a dangerous and tragic turn.
It’s critical that schools start quickly prioritizing the health and safety of their students above convenience or politics before the consequences of these decisions start coming, and the nation’s children are the ones who are forced to pay the extremely high price for a lack of adequate caution.