Madness Again? Philadelphia Issues Mask Mandate on Students

Schools in Philadelphia have just implemented a new regulation, which states that two weeks must pass before the epidemic may be contained. 

The school system has mandated that children wear masks for the first two weeks of the school year. On Friday of last week, the school district published its updated mask policy for the new year. The first day of the new school year is on August 29.

To prevent the transmission of COVID-19 from end-of-summer parties or other social functions, the school district has a new set of policies mandating that students and staff members in all schools are required to wear masks until September 9th. This is in spite of the fact that the most recent recommendations issued by the CDC state that residents of the city do not need to wear masks due to the levels of COVID-19 in the air. On the website of the school district, an announcement was made regarding the new restrictions.

“For the first 10 days of the new school year — from August 29 through September 9 – all students and staff will be required to wear masks while in school, regardless of the COVID-19 Community Level,” the announcement said. “This is an extra precaution for everyone’s health and well-being since increased end-of-summer social gatherings may heighten the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Masking may then become optional under specific circumstances.“

Folks ought to take note of this official statement because it unequivocally demonstrates that the school district is, once again, trying to make up its own science. Everyone is required to wear masks “regardless of the COVID-19 Community Level,” according to this regulation. However, this suggests that it is disregarding the scientific findings of the CDC and other authorities in the field. This is the second time in the last four months that the school district has done something like this.

The school district, for some inexplicable reason, mandated that everyone wear masks once more during the final few weeks of the 2021-2022 academic year. According to the data from the CDC, COVID-19 levels in the city did not warrant the wearing of masks, and there were only 14 school days left until the end of the year. 

Therefore, the question that needs to be answered is: at what point should we stop believing the professionals? 

In the Philadelphia school district, we have gone from a position of “trust the science” to one of “conjuring up science,” which is founded on the whims of paranoid decision-makers. Nobody in Philadelphia’s public schools wants to see an epidemic break out. However, considering that they are disregarding data even from the CDC and taking into account the city’s previous mistakes made during the epidemic, no one should assume that their policies are supported by any kind of scientific evidence.