Shamefully for this country, the suggestion of universal masking guidelines from the CDC and vaccinations have merely led to virulent and toxic debates nationwide rather than introspection and consent. For public schools, this condition has already led to devastating results, as too many schools are struggling with the consequences of this diatribe. Astonishingly, this is occurring when research shows that effective mitigation strategies reduce the rates of virus transmission, yet many schools cannot get there due to policy.
Stunning is also the fact that our country is wrestling with unfounded accusations, major speculation, and personal interpretation about viruses and their effects. This is ironically occurring centuries after the scientific discovery of bacteria and knowledge about the spread of germs. Shortly before then it was the Medieval Period when superstitions were the rule and schisms never abated. In retrospect, it was science that helped escape medieval practices that had previously harbored the bubonic plagues. Should science not have advanced, we would be saddled back to that period, when nearly a third of Europe was lost in ignorance, like believing cats had to be killed and rats protected to overcome the plague and the spread of disease.
With politics entering the fray today, even combatting scientific knowledge, some of the public is now confusing liberty and freedom as it regards policy and virus eradication, while others cannot differentiate freedom from anarchy. It is important that we well learn the lessons of history and understand that individual freedom has inevitable limits if the rights of others are forced to surrender.
While issues can be argued with two-edged swords, what we cannot fail to see is that a public health emergency only has one side, the wellness and protection of all, even if it means partial curtailment of individuality. We can only attain communal health if we act responsibly as a collective body. As such, we are fully accountable to each other. Democracies exist best when balance between the public and personal rights are mutual and collaborative.
If national data is in question, as some may argue, then let’s take solace from international data that bear similar conclusions, more so under different conditions. The U.K. government, for example, does not require masking for children in school, but it has other forms of mitigation that would not be possible in the U.S. For one, the British Government tests every family of a child twice weekly so there is widespread and continual rapid testing, fully enforced, plus quarantining when necessary. In another form of enforcement, the English system has one single set of Covid standards and guidelines that public and private schools must follow without exception. This is very different from the U.S., with local control of schools, unless states intervene. What this means is that U.S. challenges are more difficult and complex, and so we must devise different systems of accountability and practice, as we do not have control on society that the British Government has.
The bottom line in all of this is that strategies and policies for schools must be guided by research and able leadership, where policy standards and implementation are informed by research. If research-based information is not validated, then we allow a Pandora’s Box of public disarray as well as mass confusion to gain in poor policy and distortion. This not only works against uniform guidelines, but also renders data gathering useless, leading to a pandemonium of confusion and chaos. What we certainly do not want for our country is to reverse what we have gained as a result of vaccination. As we are reaching herd immunity, we do not want another virus mutation that could resist vaccines already developed, as we then will need to restart from scratch. Spanish culture has a proverb that simplifies the dilemma: “Do not destroy with your feet what you create with your hands.” It is important that we responsibly reflect in a likewise manner.