Wear a Mask… Why is this so hard to ask?

by admin August 19, 2021

Adulting is hard… parenting is even harder.

School has officially started here in Florida and sadly I just had to withdraw my children from their beloved public schools to enroll them into an online option at the Florida Virtual School. The reason… the risks currently outweigh the benefits when it comes to their education, safety, and health.

Oddly, I feel like I’m the only one who’s this worried.

At the doctor’s office today, there were rows of immunization records waiting for parents to pick them up. The front desk clerk at the school, was understanding when I asked for my daughter’s transcripts, I’m guessing this wasn’t her first one to print today. However, my feed on Facebook is filling up with back-to-school photos as kids head back to school. Traditionaly, this has always been one of my favorites times of year and all those milestones of growing smiles.

So why do I feel like our family is one of the only parents taking action to prevent more cases of COVID in our local school district? Our hospital are reaching capacity for ICU beds, it’s not looking good. Florida seems to be in it’s own world, with Texas close behind us.

Is anyone in a leadership position in our community watching the current statistic of outbreaks in Florida? It’s insane. Our local school board is taking a stand, but sadly they along with our superintendant are now in the national news and facing punishment by just requiring masks to be worn by all on school campuses.

I’m deeply concerned we are just the beginning here in our state and many states will follow due to the Covid delta varient.

Why is this so hard to ask for all who can to wear a mask?

Protecting Our Children from COVID 19 with Masks

As a mom of 3 and a former public school teacher, my decision to remove my kids from public school was incredibly heartbreaking to make. It took many sleepless nights, lots of reading from health experts, and tough conversations to come to this decision. I know having a child attending a school, receiving direct instruction is best for them, especially after recent statistics published from this past school year. My girls are lucky, I work from home and have a background in education. I know this is a unique situation for our family. As soon as the number of positive cases drop, my child will be right back to in-person learning. Keeping the protected as their parent is my job.

Can’t we just all agree to put on masks, get vaccinated, and follow the latest CDC guidelines to fight against the Delta variant? Clearly not, because sadly there are over 10,000 Florida students are currently quarentined after the first few days of school.

Our current situation is putting parents are put into an impossible situation of having to choose between the health and life of their child and returning to school.

Florida’s Governor Ron Desantis and the Board Members of the Florida Department of Education are claiming it’s parent choice and harassment to require masks on our school campus. A lawsuit has been filed by Florida parents on behalf of their children against Governor Ron DeSantis’s anti-mask stance.

Our schools are a location where the majority of our students don’t even have the personal option to be vaccinated. I’d argue the opposite, as a leader, choosing to create an unsafe environment for my child is a crime. Immunizations records are required for admission to Kindergarten, so adapting the same for COVID safety regulations is not a new concept for the better of our children’s lives.

We can get together and agree that it’s crucial to keep our student population safe, can’t we?

All that’s happening right now before my eyes is so wrong on so many levels. We didn’t have to be finding ourselves in this situation. Cases and hospitalizations among children are on the rise, and the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus makes up about 90% of new infections among kids, according to experts. Children under 12 are still ineligible for COVID-19 Vaccines, making schools a potentially dangerous environment without following the proper safety regulations.

I pushed my kids along this past school year as we trudged through the virtual school provided by my daughters’ schools that we’ll get to go back to the brick and mortar school this fall, once the vaccines are made available. I naively told them that the COVID-19 virus will become to be less positive cases, but it’s completely the opposite. Now they are even at more risk as a child.

My children put aside so many self-interests for the better of the community only to be restricted again to our community members’ negligence to get educated and stop listening to falsehoods.

UF Health experts say we have 3 major ways to protect ourselves from the new delta variant of COVID-19:

– vaccination
– ventilation
– mask wearing

Why wouldn’t we be doing all we can to stay healthy and avoid risking our children’s lives. They have so much ahead of them in their futures. And now because of your choices to not vaccinate, my children (and sadly others too) will have a very strong memory of the nearly two years they were at home due to a virus that scientists worked miracles to create a vaccine for, several in fact, and yet less than half of all adults and teens are choosing to not get it.

How could expert medical advice become so sided and optional?

How did politics become so sided and involved in our school districts?

The 2021-2022 School Year isn’t Starting the Way we all Hoped

Going Back to school is already a very exciting and anxious time for our kids. Sadly our Covid postive numbers are higher than ever before, especially here in Florida.

Our local health experts are telling people how to keep the rate of infection down, but based on the numbers it appears that only half of us are listening. I heard in last night’s school board meeting that we currently have an incident of a parent knowingly to be positive, dropping their kids off at school. There was also a report of parents taking their potentially positive child to school, waiting for test results, because the have to go to work. As a community we need to find a better solution. This can’t continue.

We need our children to have access to the vaccination and proactive health safety plans in action before we place them in classrooms full of potential outbreaks of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

Didn’t you see how badly in India the COVID-19 delta variant cases and deaths were?

We’re not immune to tragedy in America….. take action NOW!

After seeing these horrific images, perhaps every American will realize the truth: that the Covid-19 vaccine is what separates India’s ongoing tragedy from our present reality. And hopefully, they’ll decide to get vaccinated.”
Robert Pearl, M.D.

Resources for Protecting our Kids from COVID-19

In July 2021, the CDC recommended that all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools wear masks while indoors, regardless of whether or not they are vaccinated. They also recommend that everyone who is eligible for vaccination get the vaccine.

There are several other prevention strategies that, when layered together, should minimize the spread of COVID-19 in schools. These include physical distancing; screening, testing, and contact tracing; staying home when sick; and frequent handwashing.

Schools should also do their best to improve ventilation, by opening windows and doors, for example. Decisions about some of these prevention strategies may depend on levels of community transmission. As well as many school districts are restricted based on their public safety act policies.

Where to find Current COVID Stats Data

Know your local county statistics and surrounding areas.

Know the guidelines from the CDC. Are they being implemented in your child’s school and your local community, if not…. get writing! Make a call. It’s time to contact your local leaders and tell them how you feel. Use your voice to help to tell your local leaders what you want them to support. Share the research-based facts with them.

siblings working on school work at home at table with laptop, paper and pencils

Actions to Take to Protect Your Family from COVID-19

Who to contact?

local school board members
superintendent
mayor
county commissioners
senate
house representative
state department of education
governor
local news station
local newspaper

Will you RISE UP and be a VOICE? Here’s how

An estimated 1.5 million children worldwide lost a mother, father or other caregiving relative in the first 14 months of the pandemic, according to a new study. More than a million lost primary caregivers.”
New York Times

As the numbers rise in the State of Florida of cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19 the tension rises of school requirement masks. Why is this even a conversation?

Isn’t this our job… to keep kids safe and to provide the best care possible? Regardless of what role you play in a child’s life? Parents, teachers, pediatricians, school board members, department of education leaders, county commissioners, the mayor, and even the governor.

Sadly many of these are not currently aligning, especially within Florida.

As of August 2021, there is an alarming climb in rate of pediatric cases in Florida. Actually in the US and overall with pediatric cases increasing the most. As much as we want to pretend it doesn’t impact kids as much as adults, the reality is it’s even scarier. The reason is our kids aren’t supposed to die. Period. They are expected to live a full life. Yet current conditions in our health crisis are forcing our children to literally worry about sickness and death at alarming rates.

We need to talk about the pediatric bed situation in the USA. Because things are going to get really bad, real fast, unless people doing things to stop it.”
Denise Dewald, MD

The first day of school approaches for all around the world and we’re worse off than we were a year ago this time in terms of the safety of our children as it relates to COVID-19. How can this be when scientists literally moved mountains to create a vaccine against COVID-19. In fact, they have made 3 vaccinations for US patients alone with many others available in other countries.

If you are not vaccinated, get vaccinated.

Together we have an obligation to each do our part to prevent further transmission of COVID-19.

Tips for Helping Children Cope with Changes Resulting from COVID-19

COVID Statistics and Information for Parents to Pay Attention to in Florida

(and frankly all families throughout the world)

“What if we, as a society, decided to take a more middle of the road approach? What if we looked at the data rather than our narrative? What if we listened to people caring for COVID patients and actual scientists dealing with the data more than we do Jim Acosta or Tucker Carlson (or our Facebook friend who found some “secret data”)?”
Justin Qualls

Helpful Articles for Keeping Children Safe from COVID Delta Variant

We are in this together, and each and every one of us plays an important role in furthering the health and safety of ourselves, our neighbors, and our loved ones. It is the right thing to do — and medical experts say vaccination and masking are the best ways to do it.

I’m so proud of the school districts across the nation that are standing up for our children to ensure their learning environments are safe. We can do this together when decisions are based on science and not politics. And if needed are providing virtual options for students having to be away from their classes due to exposure or illness.

It can be so hard to know what is “real” or “true”, and how to make the best decision for you and your family. It is important to get good information in order to make the best-informed decisions possible. These days are so challenging to navigate, especially when it is life and death that could potentially be on the line.

I put together this guide to provide you with information to help make a difference. My heart is with everyone right now as we navigate through these challenging times as a parent. I wish there was a way to wave a magic wand and make our kids forget all that’s happened this past year and make it all better again. The truth is until we face the realities in front of us now, nothing will change and many more lives will be impacted.

Be safe and wear a mask for our kids. Have your child wear a mask.

Get your vaccination and encourage others to do their part too to protect our children from COVID.

Child playing with parents in working on laptop on sofa

Family using books and technology to cope with changes during social distancing

mother helping children work on school at home

Resources for Families during COVID

COVID 19 has upended the lives of children worldwide. With many children in jeopardy, I appeal to leaders at all levels to do everything in their power to cushion the impact of the pandemic – and protect our children.”
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

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