Masks and Vaccines
Why Do We Have to Wear Masks in the Classroom?
It’s been a hard year navigating and understanding the constantly evolving guidelines surrounding masks and vaccinations.
In some places you don’t have to wear a mask at all regardless of vaccination status, some require masks only for unvaccinated guests, others require masks for all regardless of vaccination record.
Guidelines seem to be different from business to business, school to school, and city to city, so which one is correct?
The answer is none of them and also all of them. There are different guidelines set for restaurants, than in schools because of the difference in levels of exposure and those at risk of exposure.
Safety is the top priority, so in restaurants where there is an option to attend, regulations are more relaxed. In those establishments there is more of an opportunity to limit contact.
Those regulations, however, would not work in a school. Students are in contact with thousands of students and staff, in our case about 2,400 vanguards, so there is no real way to limit contact outside.
However, inside, where students are sitting close together, mandating masks makes sense, regardless of vaccination status.
So, why do I have to wear a mask in the classroom even if I am vaccinated even though I don’t have to wear one when I’m in public?
Vaccinations are slowing the spread, but there the vaccine is not 100% effective.
There are different sets of guidelines in schools because schools are in custody of minors, not consenting adults.
You don’t have to go to the store, but you have to go to school, so requiring masks in the classroom is a way to allow all students to come to school and feel safe, which is what they deserve.
