Until there’s a vaccine for kids under 12, masks must be required in Md. schools | COMMENTARY

Let’s see if we’ve got this straight: Maryland’s children gave up more than a year of in-person education at great cost to their personal and academic growth to minimize the spread of a deadly virus that nevertheless managed to infect nearly half a million people in the state and claim almost 10,000 lives — a virus that is still raging, by the way, with case numbers on the upswing because of a variant that’s 200% more transmissible than the one that initially shut down schools. But now that adults and adolescents have a voluntary vaccine available to them, the state’s leaving the youngest kids to fend for themselves.

Does that sum it up?So, those feeling smug because they’ve had their shot shouldn’t be quite so quick to hang the kids out to dry. Not protecting unvaccinated children with masks just might turn them into Petri dishes for something to develop that none of us is protected against. In other words: If you can’t mask the kids for their sake, do it for yours.

We were glad to see that Maryland’s health and education departments are encouraging all school districts to expand their COVID-19 testing capabilities during the next school year, and providing federal funds to help pay for it. Catching outbreaks early is critical. But you know what’s better than catching an outbreak? Avoiding it. Gov. Larry Hogan, we should still “wear the damn masks.” Won’t you intervene?

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-0725-masks-in-school-20210722-ss4rocvxpbdpvhpvjw7wwnnz74-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0YmrqWDXrICq9ADBHB5fzY-OKnq_Uwx6Wk914m4_d-WEKQBk6l2a9vZyg