Masks work. But JCPS, here's why it’s time to end the mask mandate: Opinion

I remember how it felt to wear a mask for the first time to the grocery store. After weeks of doing everything possible to avoid coming into contact with people (and holding my breath whenever someone hovered near me in an aisle), wearing a mask finally gave me a sense of protection against a virus that wasn’t well understood and for which treatments weren’t available. With a mask, I could finally breathe.

The contents of a kitchen cabinet are a reminder of how far my family and I have come since that day in early May 2020. There are masks of all sorts—paper surgical masks, KN94 and N95 masks, cloth masks in various colors and patterns, kid-sized masks. But regardless of what they look like, they were all used with one goal in mind, to protect my family and those around us from getting sick, at least until vaccines and treatments were available.

And they worked! Masking absolutely worked. When masking is widespread in the community, it absolutely is an effective measure to prevent the spread of disease. And not just COVID-19, but all viruses. For two years, my family avoided COVID. We wore masks to school and to the grocery store and to swim meets. When vaccines became available, we got them, first for me and my fiancée, and then later my children as soon as they were eligible. And when COVID inevitably found us all at various points last winter and spring, the vaccine did what it was supposed to do. It kept our symptoms manageable and we recovered quickly.

Opposing view:Why Kentucky Nurses Association stands with JCPS on mask mandate: Opinion

When my children started school this year in Jefferson County, they did so wearing masks. Jefferson County is in the “red” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In accordance with a policy adopted by the school board last spring (and re-affirmed last month), masks are required for all students, staff, parents and visitors in JCPS buildings when Jefferson County is in the “red.” According to The Courier Journal, JCPS is one of the only school districts nationwide—just 2% of all school districts—to require students to wear a mask.

I am a believer in the efficacy of masks to help mitigate the spread of COVID. I wore masks religiously for two years until I caught COVID. My children wore masks. Masks work. But JCPS, it’s time to end the mask mandate.

I do not take this position lightly. In fact, if anything, I hate taking this position because I loathe the idea of being lumped together with anti-maskers, many of whom not only deny the science behind masking but also the science behind vaccines. The course of this pandemic would likely have been much different if these folks had simply worn masks and could be bothered to get vaccinated.

At school but nowhere else

But the reality is that, according to CDC estimates, 75% of school children in this country have been infected with COVID. Vaccines are available to everyone, 6 months and older. Therapeutics such as PAXLOVID are on the market. But, more importantly, requiring masks in schools is stupid when they’re not required anywhere else, even in communities such as Jefferson County where community transmission is high. Why are we asking our children to do what we, as adults, refuse to do? This is why I am incredibly disappointed that members of the JCPS Board of Education refused, during its meeting on Tuesday, August 16, to even consider debate on ending the requirement, much less end the requirement.

More:JCPS mask policy stays in place. Push by some board members to go mask-optional fails

But, when ending the mask requirement, JCPS must also be very clear that any student, staff member or visitor who wants to wear a mask is not only free to do so, they are free to do so without harassment. Anti-masks proponents across the country–including in Louisville–have often described mask wearing in children as abuse. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how misguided it may be, any teacher or staff member who would view a parent sending their kid to school in a mask as a child abuser has no business in the school building. There are a myriad of reasons why a parent or caregiver might want their child to wear a mask, and teachers and other school personnel must respect those decisions without judgment or bias.

The new CDC guidance for COVID in schools recognizes that COVID isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Rather, we must all learn to live with the virus in our new normal. It’s time the JCPS Board of Education did the same.

Brian Smith is a lifelong Louisvillian and the father of 3 children, all of whom attend JCPS schools.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Masks work. But JCPS, here's why it’s time to end the mask mandate