Masking Children is About Power & Control, Not Science
Jeffrey I. Barke, M.D.
As we come into the middle of summer, our attention naturally shifts to thoughts of our kids soon having to return to school classrooms.
Unfortunately, the unelected health bureaucrats that have exercised so much power in the last year and a half have not learned much from the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic. Inexplicably and without any scientific evidence, they continue to insist that children must wear masks when in the classroom.
They show no evidence of having seen a study out of Florida showing that disease-causing organisms build up inside a child’s mask after several hours of wear. Recently, JAMA Pediatrics published a study showing dangerous levels of CO2 among kids after only a short time wearing a mask. As I have noted in my book, COVID-19, A Physicians Take on the Exaggerated Fear of the Coronavirus, the SARS CoV2 virus is not stopped by the pores on typical facial masks. It's like trying to stop a mosquito with a chain-link fence.
The WHO has told us that it is rare for those without symptoms to pass Covid-19 to others. They estimate asymptomatic spread to be less than 1% of all Covid-19 cases. Dr. Fauci even said, “Asymptomatic spread is not a common driver of infection.” This makes perfect sense if you think about it. Viral respiratory illnesses like Covid-19, the common cold, or even Influenza, are spread by those with symptoms – when they cough or sneeze.
We also know that children are at an extremely low risk of suffering adverse consequences even if they do get Covid-19.
The CDC’s own data show that if you are less than 20 years old (that’s the K through 12 range), you have a 99.997% survival rate. To put this number in perspective, a young child has a higher risk of dying from seasonal influenza than from Covid-19. Yet, we have never closed our schools during influenza season and we have never required the masking of children during influenza season. So, we should demand of those health bureaucrats and craven school officials to know why ineffective and dangerous masks are now needed against a less dangerous virus!
In addition to the health risks of a child wearing a mask, there are also significant psychological risks. We have seen a dramatic increase in anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and learning disorders directly due to both school closures and mandated mask wearing. We also know that wearing a mask inhibits the bonding between child and teacher as facial recognition and facial expressions are critical to the early developmental stages of a child.
Furthermore, it is estimated that greater than 80% of all grade-school teachers will be vaccinated by the fall, eliminating the fallacious argument that somehow low risk children can spread Covid-19 to higher risk teachers or staff. An Israel study published in JAMA shows a very low level of spread from children to teachers.
We have been told over and over again that we must “follow the science.” OK. But where is the science behind the bureaucrat’s mask mandate for children? There isn’t any. So where is this insistence on masks coming from? Look no further than several of the teachers’ unions. The two largest are the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.
The masking of children is about power and control, not science.
If they can keep parents and children in fear for their lives, they can also call the shots on everything else involving schools, from types of instruction, to funding, to member benefits.
Fortunately, parents have had enough. A recent survey showed Kindergarten enrollment for the upcoming year is down by 15%. We are seeing an even larger increase in parents who say they will home-school their children this fall. If enough parents refuse to send their kids to schools requiring a mask, the less the state funding derived from daily attendance.
When money shrinks, you can bet the mandate will fall as well. Parents have the ultimate power over schools and they must remove their kids from those schools that do not share their values.