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

Resources and tips for protecting our children from COVID delta variant and why wearing a mask is so important during these times for kids.

Adulting is hard… parenting is even harder, especially during this pandemic.

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.

resources and tips for preventing covid 19 in children

UPDATE: CDC Recommends Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine for Children 5 to 11 Years

At the doctor’s office today, there were rows of immunization records waiting for parents to be picked up. My girls’ public school was understanding when I asked for my daughter’s transcripts, I’m confident this wasn’t the first one to print today for a parent. However, my feed on Facebook is filling up with back-to-school photos as kids head back to school. Traditionally, this has always been one of my favorite times of the year and all those milestones of growing smiles.

So why do I feel like our family is one of the only ones feeling pushed to take action to prevent more cases of COVID in our local school district? Am I taking this too far? The final push to make our decision to keep our kids at home, was hearing that their lunch time would be 10 classes together in an already poorly ventilated cafeteria. We’re a fact driven family but was our decision based on my heart or my mind? The reality is that our local hospitals are reaching capacity for ICU beds, and 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 superintendent, 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 variant.

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

UPDATE: Worried about Covid, most parents no longer want kids in school full time, survey finds

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’m sharing these resources below with you to make it easy to keep up to date, things are changing rapidly. There’s a reason New Zealand just began a three-day lockdown after a single case is reported.

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. We even have a local online school option that keeps the funds in our county that we’ve signed our girls into. However, families shouldn’t be put in this position to make this type of decision. As soon as the number of positive cases drop and our healthcare system is not overburdened, my children will be right back to in-person learning. Keeping them protected 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 currently quarentined after the first few days of school.

Our current situation is putting parents 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 that wearing a mask is a parent choice and is considered 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.

UPDATE: Florida court rejects effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis to ban mask mandates.

UPDATE: U.S. Department of Education Awards Project SAFE Funds to Florida School District Following State-Imposed Penalty for Implementing COVID-19 Safety Measures

It’s getting worse now with this latest UPDATE: Florida’s New Surgeon General Opposes COVID-19 Mandates

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. The recent data is showing that kids and teens represent about one in five new cases. 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’ public schools so 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

Students in classroom wearing masks to discuss resources and tips for protecting our children from COVID delta variant

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 they had 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.
Children in school wearing a mask to learn more ways of how to protect our children in schools during Covid-19 Pandemic

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.

A huge acknowledgment to the many parents, teachers and students working to make this happen now in our schools. I see you with your mask and germ gel and spaced out classrooms. I know you’re trying the best you can with the situation at hand.

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.

What we’re asking of our teachers has gone above and beyond their contracts. They did an incredible job maintaining digital academy classes this past year. My heart breaks seeing my teaching friends and how stressful their daily lives have become at work. Our teachers deserve a working environment that is conducive to learning and safe for all, that’s not what we’re currently providing them.

UPDATE: Schools Without Mask Requirements More Likely to See COVID-19 Outbreaks

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.

New reports show that sadly Covid-19 has taken the parents or grandparents of 140,000 US children, and minorities were hit harder.

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.

UPDATE: Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine safe, effective for kids 5-11: What parents should know

Teen receiving vaccination against COVID

UPDATE: CDC Recommends Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine for Children 5 to 11 Years

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)

I’ve put together a collection of articles and resources for parents to grasp the current conditions in Florida as it relates to the status of the spread of Covid-19 including the Delta Variant. If you have any other great sources you’ve found, feel free to add them below in the comments to share with others too.

“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
Child wearing mask in school setting to help to protect spread of COVID 19 in schools.

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. 

It’s important to stay up to date with the latest science, here are the most recent publications to help to protect our families, especially how this is impacting our children.

Disclosure: This article was not written to provide medical advice. Medical issues should be handled by an appropriate medical professional instead of relying upon our website’s content as a substitute.

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 by mandating masks. 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.

I know things will return to a more “normalness” one day, just not yet. We need to be patient and listen to our health experts as we navigate this virus. Together, educated, we can reduce the lives impacted by COVID.

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 and loved ones.

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

The three videos about COVID-19 and the mRNA vaccines are on the STARDUST MYSTERY YouTube Channel. The work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

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
Resources and tips for protecting our kids from COVID delta Variant

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Comments

  1. I understand your plight. I live in Texas and I work in an early childhood center. We have children from 3 months-Kindergarten. Twos and up are masked inside; the younger children are not. It’s frightening at best.

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