President Biden on Thursday called local leaders who are pushing mask mandates on children “heroes.”
“I know there are a lot of people out there trying to turn a public safety measure — that is children wearing masks in school so they can be safe — into a political dispute and that this isn’t about politics,” he said at the White House. “This is about keeping our children safe.”
The comment comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended students, faculty and staff in K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors amid growing concern over the Delta variant.
“To the mayors, school superintendents, educators, local leaders who are standing up to the governors politicizing mask protection for our kids: thank you,” the president said.
“Thank God that we have heroes like you and I stand with you all and America should as well,” Biden added.
MASKS: With some GOP Governors banning mask mandates in schools, President Biden praises the growing number of local officials and school superintendents pushing forward with mask requirements anyway as "heroes." pic.twitter.com/bRm9w73rcZ
— Forbes (@Forbes) August 12, 2021
The Republican governors in Texas and Florida have signed orders prohibiting requiring masks in schools, opting instead to leave the decision up to each person and family.
At least three Florida school districts are defying DeSantis’s order, imposing mask mandates in school. The governor, in turn, has threatened their salaries.
According to Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Dr. H. Cody Meissner, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Tufts Children’s Hospital who also served on the FDA’s external advisory panel for the Covid-19 vaccines, data on the masking of children is scant, with the single study showing inconclusive results.
What we do know, however, is that they are not harmless, according to the doctors.
Some children are fine wearing a mask, but others struggle. Those who have myopia can have difficulty seeing because the mask fogs their glasses. (This has long been a problem for medical students in the operating room.) Masks can cause severe acne and other skin problems. The discomfort of a mask distracts some children from learning. By increasing airway resistance during exhalation, masks can lead to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood. And masks can be vectors for pathogens if they become moist or are used for too long.
In March, Ireland’s Department of Health announced that it won’t require masks in schools because they “may exacerbate anxiety or breathing difficulties for some students.” Some children compensate for such difficulties by breathing through their mouths. Chronic and prolonged mouth breathing can alter facial development. It is well-documented that children who mouth-breathe because adenoids block their nasal airways can develop a mouth deformity and elongated face.
The possible psychological harm of widespread masking is an even greater worry. Facial expressions are integral to human connection, particularly for young children, who are only learning how to signal fear, confusion and happiness. Covering a child’s face mutes these nonverbal forms of communication and can result in robotic and emotionless interactions, anxiety and depression. Seeing people speak is a building block of phonetic development. It is especially important for children with disabilities such as hearing impairment.
The adverse developmental effects of requiring masks for a few weeks are probably minor. We can’t say that with any confidence when the practice stretches on for months or years. (WSJ)
Moreover, the risk to students from the virus is low. But according to Biden, those forcing kids to mask up all day are "heroes."