We were asked to “help flatten the curve.” We did it. Now, seven months later, and with all the science and stats, my boys, 10 and 12, are being forced to wear a mask (muzzle) to half-full school classrooms for only two or three days a week?

We asked our grocery and big box store employees to come to work and see thousands of people a day. We asked health care professionals to go to work at hospitals and nursing homes, you know, where all the sick people are, and they did it. They all did it. How about schools?

We are told its totally fine to have a waiter serve 10 maskless people at a restaurant table, but for school teachers, it’s only “safe” if there are eight kids or so per classroom spaced 6 feet apart, and the children have to wear masks (muzzles) all day?

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We know that school-aged kids are the healthiest and least-affected people, so why are we treating them like they are so dangerous? I am not ready to accuse teachers of being scared to come to school, but don’t teachers and administrators sign up for certain elevated risks by simply being in close contact with children and their marginal hygiene habits?

Getting a cold is terrible and the flu, worse. But these are the risks of being alive.

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Are people forgetting only 99.968% of COVID-19 sufferers survive and with no long-term ill effects? (The survival rate was calculated on confirmed COVID-19 deaths worldwide, as of Sept. 7, compared to the number of confirmed worldwide cases.) 

Are people aware there is nothing that shows children are effective spreaders of the virus? And when did it become my child’s responsibility to protect someone else’s aged or infirm grandparent?

If Johnny’s parents want him to wear a mask all day, that’s fine with me. If teachers want to seek a level of protection by wearing masks all day, have at it. I thought parents were in charge of managing our own family’s risk. 

My kids are miserable after two weeks of school. Switching back and forth from classroom to homeschool has been very hard on them. Having to wear a mask outdoors at school has been terrible, stifling. Constantly being told “mask on” when simply wanting to get a breath or two of fresh mountain air has been brutal.  

The psychological effect of the mask (muzzle) has been so severe already. Are we prepared to face the consequences of this Draconian treatment of our kids?

Kevin Nemec
Steamboat Springs