Reasonable Preacatuions - live life without being ruled by fear

My local school committee/board is  going to meet to discuss if masks should be mandated or not.  I like many have an opinion

Something that has been running through my mind is that the idea of m-sk wearing to prevent something that may or may not happen (i.e. transmission of C-19) yet our district is not tree nut/peanut free, there is simply a table for the kids that have food allergies to sit at. As a parent of a child with food allergies, this can be frustrating, but at the same time, I get it. It is a reasonable accommodation and helps me teach my child to be aware of the risks and how to mitigate them while still enjoying a full active life and not one that is lived in fear.

Why is masking treated differently? Most kids are not at high risk but those that are at high risk or have a low-risk tolerance can have the option to wear a mask or not rather than mandating it.

Do some kids have a higher risk due to their medical history, yes and the parents of those kids already know that it sucks because their child cannot do everything. If a child has a heart condition and cannot participate in gym class that class is not canceled, they don't participate. The same thing should apply here, don't cancel things for the majority, wear a mask or not it is your choice.

I am saddened that society has lost the ability to express themselves with tact and compassion, just as much as I saddened by our lack of understanding that other people can think differently than we do and still be a good person and not evil.  I read an article by Peggy Noonan in the WSJ and this paragraph jumped out at me and I said YES!  This! when I read it.

And maybe some of us should regain or adjust our sense of proportion. There’s a bad disease out there that’s settled in. Approaching it with prudent realism is good. Taking precautions is good. But—it’s hard to say this without being misunderstood—some people have gotten neurotic about the virus. They’re fixated, they’ve wound up every fear they have in it. They’re not concerned about heart disease, cancer, the big killers, it’s all Covid. But Covid now is part of life; it’s not life. At a certain point you’ve got to remember what Sean Connery’s character said in David Mamet’s great screenplay of “The Untouchables.” The Canadian Mounties had screwed up the ambush, Eliot Ness’s men didn’t know whether to join in. “Oh what the hell, you gotta die of something,” Connery’s character said. And they charged.

 

I hear and read a lot of chatter about "the science' but the data either isn't there or isn't publicized with these declarations of 'follow the science'.  The fact of the matter is that the CDC guidance is just that guidance it is is not based soley on science, Dr. Walensky has states as much, they also consider the 'lived experience of stakeholders'.  We don't all have the same 'lived experience' and therefore we all should have choice.

Additionally, we don't have the data and some of this guidance is based on anecdotes.  Why is the CDC's anecdotes more valid than that of other medical professionals?  The answer is they are not, which is why we should have choice.

When the pandemic started I was ready and willing to look to the CDC, Dr. Fauci, and others that were geared toward this type of thing, granted they are focused on it in an academic way and very controlled way that either doesn't take in to account human nature or gives it very little value.  At the time that made sense because it was new.  However, over the passage of time CDC, Dr. Fauci, MSM, and social media has eroded the trust that they had from the outset.

• Dr. Fauci has pushed items that were not strictly science because he thought he could, and failed to disclose that it was not based strictly on science
• The CDC has pushed their school mask 'guidance' under auspices of based strictly on science, but Dr. Walensky's own press statements belie this fact
• The MSM and Social media has fanned the flames of hysteria over boring fact

We have lived with this 'Henny Penny' hysteria for well over 17 months and it has not abated.  Over the course of those months, we have a better understanding (but not complete) of the virus, we have a vaccine (that should be optional), we have better treatment options, yet we still live in a world of "The Sky Is Falling" rather than a more measured response.

We are still living in a world where dissent is stomped on, yet if we stomp on dissent how will we make improvements and test out theories to see what works?

Let me ask you this, how many times have you hear or said something along the lines of "This should work in theory" yet when you execute it doesn't actually work?  This is where we are right now we have a lot of 'this should work in theory' and not all of it is working, because we are in the world and not in theory.  When there is a lot of unknown out there you start with theory, and then you adjust based on real world experience of what worked and didn't work when you executed the plan based on theory.

At the start of the pandemic the best thing to do is embrace what we learn from those that are lab focused and develop those theories because that is what they do and what we had was new.  They should lead and the front line should support their efforts at leading by implementing those recommendations and evaluate how they work.

Now is the time to embrace those in the medical field that have practical experience in the world rather than those in the lab and it time for those in the lab to support the front line to take their experiences of what actually work and help make them more robust.