Whatever happened to common sense?
Though the numbers have improved, the omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to rage across the country, wreaking havoc with many but especially with the unvaccinated.
Yet, governors in four solid blue states – the same type who are critical of the more laissez-faire attitudes toward masks in red states – are announcing the end of statewide mask mandates for schools.
This newspaper, in its Tuesday edition, devoted a news story and photograph to the New Jersey Democratic governor declaring that the mask requirement for schools would end in a month.
Democratic governors in Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon have made similar pronouncements.
In Tennessee, though, Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee is routinely taken to task for not imposing a mask mandate and for signing legislation prohibiting mandates in many cases.
In recent days, he was criticized for not mentioning the word “masks” during his State of the State address, and one Ranter even suggested he must have stock in funerals.
However, as The New York Times points out in its “The Morning” newsletter Tuesday, looking at the costs and benefits of restrictions, “the disruption and isolation of the past two years have contributed to increases in educational inequality, mental-health problems, blood pressure, drug overdoses, violent crime and other serious ills.”
The newsletter looks further into the efficacy of masks, which have been a punching bag since the early days of the pandemic two years ago when White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci first said they were not much of a help, then later said they were a necessary tool to ward off serious illness.
It mentions studies in England and in Florida that masks had little effect on caseloads and a now debunked study that said they did have an effect. It even quoted a Minnesota epidemiologist that flat out said masking “doesn’t work.”
This is where we stop and plead for folks to just use common sense.
Doctors and nurses have been using masks for more than a century. They help prevent respiratory droplets onto an already sick patient or one undergoing surgery. It stands to reason if someone has coronavirus, a mask can offer some measure of protection for other people.
Similarly, it only makes sense for employees to wear masks if they work in medical facilities where patients are being treated for the coronavirus or senior living facilities where residents have less resistance to disease or are immunocompromised because of another medical condition.
The same should go for anyone who visits those facilities. Why take a chance, even if you’re vaccinated and boosted on giving the virus to an older loved one or to anyone else in your wake during a visit?
Common sense also would recommend those who have been vaccinated and boosted to be aware of their surroundings. Just as we hope they would be cautious in medical and senior facilities, we would encourage them to wear a mask in crowds where they don’t have the assurance most of the people around them are vaccinated.
Can they look at them and tell? Of course not. Is it all one demographic or another? Nope. Is anything ever 100%? No.
About schools, The New York Times newsletter puts it this way: “The evidence suggests that the benefits of mandated school masking are modest and that the costs are meaningful for some children, particularly after two years of pandemic life. This combination suggests that the removal of statewide mandates will probably do more good than harm, given that COVID cases are now plummeting.”
In Hamilton County schools, masks are optional. That leaves the decision on the requirement of masks to parents, where it ought to be. If parents are as in tune with their child’s school and class as they ought to be, they should have a reasonable feeling about their child’s risk. If their child is immunocompromised, their child should wear a mask. If their understanding is most of their children’s friends and parents have been vaccinated and the school has had a low rate of infection, not wearing a mask is less risky.
It’s as easy as using common sense and consulting with your doctor on what’s right regarding masks for you and your family.
Unfortunately, in this day when parents take the grievances of their children to Facebook rather than the teacher or school, or when they poll social media on how to handle a situation, those don’t seem to count for much.
Nevertheless, as more and more people are vaccinated and have done what they can to ward off the virus, they’re going to be ditching their masks. We just hope they’ll remember a little common sense as they do so.