The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced on Friday that children will continue to wear mandatory masks in school despite new federal guidelines saying that masks are no longer necessary in schools.
Earlier on Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that fully vaccinated teachers, students, and staff would not needs to wear masks at all K-12 schools this coming fall. While the CDC did give a few additional guidelines, such as social distancing and keeping desks at least 3 feet apart, and reiterated that people should continue to vaccinate, the announcement led many to expect pre-COVID normalization to return to schools in the 2021-2022 school year.
“Vaccination is currently the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports,” said the CDC in a statement on Friday.
However, hours after the CDC’s announcement, the CDPH gave their own announcement in which they said that masks will remain mandatory for returning K-12 students this fall, regardless of vaccination status. The CDPH will follow many of the other guidelines given by the CDC on Friday, but stressed that many schools cannot accommodate the new physical distance guidelines. Due to being unable to meet those guidelines, California opted to continue mandatory masks and a push to get more people vaccinated.
“We applaud the CDC’s commitment to ensuring that schools are fully, safely opened for in-person instruction. Given California’s science-based approach and the fact that the state’s school facilities can’t accommodate physical distancing, we will align with the CDC by implementing multiple layers of mitigation strategies, including continued masking and robust testing capacity,” said California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly in a statement on Friday. “In places where we don’t have the ability to have distancing as one of the other mitigating strategies masking is the superior form of mitigation. So starting off our school year with kids masked, coming back safely with 100% of our students able to come in person, was the key strategy.”
Dr. Ghaly also noted that having a mix of students and staffs being masked and unmasked could lead to confrontation and interference between the two groups, with the continued masking policy being a unifying policy to not single anyone out.
“Masking is a simple and effective intervention that does not interfere with offering full in-person instruction. At the outset of the new year, students should be able to walk into school without worrying about whether they will feel different or singled out for being vaccinated or unvaccinated — treating all kids the same will support a calm and supportive school environment.
“In fact, we think the CDC’s guidance gives California, as well as all other states, an opportunity to put together a plan with safety first, kids back in school, in a very mindful and contextual way.”
Mixed reaction to CDPH mandatory mask announcement
The masking announcement was met with a mixed reception of Friday, with supporters praising the CDPH for being cautious and to stop the spread of any new variants of COVID-19, with detractors saying that California’s policy is only holding back full reopening in the state and that California is just blatantly ignoring federal guidelines now.
“We want to be safe, but we also want to be normal,” said a school vice principal to the Globe on Friday, who asked to remain anonymous. “We were really hoping that California allowed the plan that allowed vaccinated people to not have to wear masks. It leads to normalization and was an incentive for people to get vaccinated. We actually had a few lessons planned on addressing the mask issue and if they should get vaccinated. Not that they have to get vaccinated, but if they should or not. Regardless on how you feel about vaccinations, it is something that needs to be addressed.”
“But now that is all out the window and instead we all have to wear masks. A lot of teachers here only got vaccinated so that they could return to teach in-person without those things, and they are beyond furious right now. I actually just got off the phone with one. It’s really a big issue.”
“They aren’t even doing this on a county by county basis, as rural schools and even bigger ones in the cities probably could meet social distancing guidelines and could forego the masks. But, as we’ve seen, the state isn’t having any of that. So we’ll all stuck with wearing masks. Beats remote learning, but still incredibly disappointing.”
It is unknown as of Friday how long the mandatory masks will stay in place for, although it is expected to remain in place for at lease part of the fall due to new surges in COVID variant cases.
View Comments (31)
This is a completely ridiculous theatrical production full of lies. Is there anyone left who doesn't know it by now?
Risk to children from COVID and its "variants" is virtually ZERO. Teachers and other staff are not at risk from children who, additionally, are not "carriers." Recovery rate from COVID is now 99.9%; meaning it is not currently something for anyone to be acting like Chicken Little about. If teachers and staff are vaccinated they have nothing to fear, right? If there are teachers who do not want to go back to a classroom that is returned to normal in a fully opened-up school, terminate them and hire anew. If it is the teachers unions who are the ones pulling the strings they need to lose their power. After all, our tax-supported public schools are supposed to be about the children, right? They've been telling us that for years and years every time they want money, haven't they? Well, the masks are off now, the true faces have been revealed, the school power-players are NOT about the children but about themselves. Everyone knows it now. This tragi-comedy has gone on long enough.
Delta variant is a risk to the kids. Research it.
As much as I don’t like wearing a mask; I think California is being smart and having everyone masked. How would we know who’s vaccinated and who’s not? Trust? Yeah that isn’t going to work. We live in the morning populous state and MANY of our schools are overcrowded. Masks are a a pain but the easiest thing to continue to be able to get all the kids back to
School.
I applaud California for thinking of the health of ALL ; not just the vaccinated.
Masks do nothing to stop the spread…
”research it”
You obviously don't have kids.
Let me educate you: AMA Journal says Masks Are Bad For Your Kids. Quit Forcing Them To Wear Them.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/01/ama-journal-masks-are-bad-for-your-kids-quit-forcing-them-to-wear-them/
Masks are 100% ineffective at stopping viruses. They are rather effective at identifying anti-science leftist morons.
Stef, you have ignored or not properly researched the effectiveness of masks against respiratory viruses, nor are you aware of the over 99% recovery rate if one does get this flu like virus. The vectors of transmission of respiratory viruses is CONTACT. The body cannot house a viral load large enough to be contagious without having an elevated or low grade fever. If one has a fever (anything over 100) stay home, ( or as it’s called now, “quarantine”). Don’t bring your hands to your face, specifically one’s eyes and mouth, when out and about unless your hands have been washed first. I can’t remember the last time I had a cold, let alone the flu, because I have followed this habit long before this overreaction to yet another “new virus”, and have not wore any mask- ever. (Aware of our legal and constitutional rights to refuse and when needed, religious and “medical”exemption) All the facts and science is easily available to research, and prove what I have just stated. Ignorance is more contagious than this flu…
The “Delta variant” is another lie. When People start getting sick this fall and winter, it will not be from a variant of COVID-19. It will be because they were “vaccinated” With an experimental treatment, which actually was designed to impair their own innate immune system from responding to anything except COVID-19.
Look it up - but you won’t find this info on the corporate-controlled antique media.
Fire all teachers who support this.
Vote the recall !
This will not stop until we remove every single one of these people from office.
And these are our smartest? Our brightest? That we entrust to teach our children? Please!!!! Buffoonery graduates, all.
These people are NOT "bright", they're simply memorizing and regurgitating the same things they learned in whatever grade they're teaching and getting paid big bucks for working 9 months a year!
This is about government control over the people and never relinquishing it all under the deception for the good of the people, meanwhile democrats are strategizing to turn country into serfdom under their tyranny.
From Kevin Kiley on Twitter:
STATE OF CORRUPTION: RECALL NEWSOM
A Jeff Roldan Documentary
https://www.gofundme.com/f/state-of-corruption-the-fall-of-king-newsom?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Teachers who get a Masters degree receive a salary raise and which then means they get a retirement pension boost. There have been many teachers in recent years who attended night class for a few weeks where they were pumped full of Marxist rot, after which they were handed a Masters. For (probably most) present-day public school teachers their whole career is about high salary and high retirement pension. No wonder most of them were happy staying home and teaching for a couple of hours a day on Zoom, and no wonder they refuse to return to the classroom now for no good reason.
Yep, and those same "teachers", run campaigns to increase their pension/salaries, and use the theme "Its for the kids" for homeowners to up their property taxes, so they can get more money to retire on.
Yup. Median total compensation of a teacher in the state in 2019 was $118,365. Rate of increase in pay and benefits has been close to three times the rate of inflation since we raised taxes in 2012 "to fund better education" (prop 30 and 55).
Meanwhile, actual results - measured by the CA School Dashboard, NAEP and SAT results - have been flat or declining.
But, certainly, "it's all for the kids"...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MeL7IV3CmVz89cipPkaMZOheS410RwDy/view?usp=sharing
Dr Ghaly, show me the data that supports your belief that masking is an "effective intervention" in the transmission of COVID. Show me the science, show me any studies done. And who is this anonymous principal you quoted as saying they already developed lesson plans to teach about masking and getting vaccinated?? On one hand, Dr Ghaly states everyone masking prevents "confrontation and interference" and on the other hand you are interfering with your false lesson plans, placing undue pressure on children. Parents need to take a stand. Governmental overreach!
Stacy, Thank you for your request to see the studies and data. Do you know if there is a group of parents who are organized to oppose this mandate in Los Angeles? Is emailing possible or is it deleted?
More child abuse from the woke marxist poison vaccine pushers. The "vaccine" is now a top 50 cause of DEATH. Yes really.
Mark Ghaly talks down to people because he is a pediatrician - not an epidemiologist, nor a virologist. He does have a Masters in Public Health, but that's really not anything special: anyone with any bachelors degree who has taken general ed biology and general ed statistics can earn an MPH - a professional medical background not required.