Schools across America bring back Covid MASKS in classrooms amid rise in infections – in call back to dark days of pandemic

A slew of schools across America are reinstating mask mandates amid a flurry of positive Covid tests — despite evidence that they are harming children’s learning.

Kinterbish Junior High School in Alabama has asked all students, staff and visitors to start wearing face masks in classrooms and hallways since late last month “because of the slow rise in Covid cases in the area.”

Alabama’s Talladega City School district, which serves more than 1,700 students, has also urged children and staff to wear masks, but stressed they are “encouraged but not required.”

And a Maryland elementary school sparked outrage this week after it told students to wear form-fitting N95 masks for 10 days despite only a handful of schoolchildren testing positive for Covid.

The new call for masks is a throwback to the dark days of the pandemic and comes despite the growing body of evidence that masks were not only ineffective in preventing the spread of the virus, but also in children’s learning, social interactions and hindered natural immunity to disease. other infections.

Kinterbish Junior High School, in Cuba, Alabama, has approximately 120 students between the ages of five and fourteen. Talladega The City Schools district has 1,792 students ages four to 18.

New York State will also send masks and Covid tests to school districts in need.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday that an outreach survey will be sent to counties across the state asking if supplies are needed, which will then be shipped.

Los Angeles schools, which previously had some of the country’s strictest Covid measures, including mask mandates, 10-day disease quarantine and weekly Covid testing, have also opted for an optional mask policy.

But the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has more than 429,000 preschoolers through 12th grade, has taken an even more relaxed approach to illness.

Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles school, urged students to come to school even if they are sick to combat the high rate of absenteeism.

He told the LA Times: “We’re back to a point – based on high vaccination levels, available therapies and children’s greater resilience than most – where it’s okay if a child is mildly ill – no fever, maybe just a sniffle. that they go to school.

“There are ways to mitigate that: some good drugs, a mask and monitoring.”

Last month, a Kentucky school district canceled classes less than two weeks after reopening after large numbers of students were hit by a ‘triple-demic’ of flu, Covid-19 and strep throat outbreaks — meaning nearly a fifth have felt sick reported.

Meanwhile, concerns are growing that harmful Covid policies could be creeping back into American life.

There is little evidence that face masks actually reduce infections, and growing research shows that the mandates hinder children’s social development and education.

Masks were blamed for last year’s increase in cases of the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Strep A bacterial infection in minors, as it prevented them from developing the natural immunity they would otherwise have acquired.

In Maryland, Rebecca Irwin Kennedy, principal of Rosemary Hills Elementary School, formalized the mask mandate in a letter sent to parents Tuesday.

It was explained that she took this step after “three or more individuals” had contracted the virus in the past 10 days.

She demanded students wear thick N95 masks to “keep our school environment as safe as possible,” despite a recent study that found the mask could expose users to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals.

And while even controversial medical guru Dr. While Anthony Fauci admits there is a lack of evidence the masks stop the spread of Covid, Kennedy told parents the N95s won’t become optional until 10 days later.

The letter sparked widespread anger among those who see the decision as a slippery slope back to Covid lockdowns, with Donald Trump Jr. on X wrote: ‘DO NOT FOLLOW!!!’

While the number of Covid cases in the US is increasingAccording to public health officials, most people experience mild symptoms similar to a cold or flu.

Children are as likely as adults to get Covid, but their risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus is much lower.

The CDC believes that the hospitalization rate of Covid patients is low and the weekly death rate is near an all-time low. The vast majority of people hospitalized or dying from Covid are over the age of 65.

Experts have stressed that the recent spate of Covid cases is not worth overreacting to after the US recorded a rise in hospitalizations from the virus for the first time this year.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 8,000 patients were admitted to hospitals nationwide in the last week of August, a 12 percent increase from the previous seven days and the first week-over-week increase since December.

Despite the increase, interest rates remain historically low. In comparison, at the peak of the pandemic in January 2021, there were 150,000 Covid admissions per week, and a week earlier this year, hospital admissions even reached 44,000.

Experts have attributed the spike to the natural decline in immunity, which occurs about six months after the previous wave of infections.

The decision to return to wearing masks in Maryland also comes despite experts warning that the highly contagious virus is likely to remain a permanent part of everyday life, similar to the common cold.

“One thing Americans need to understand: SARS-CoV-2 and its variants will never go away,” Dr. Brett Osborn, a board-certified neurosurgeon in West Palm Beach, Florida, told Fox News Digital.

“It’s here to stay because the mutation rate is high, just like the flu.”