Crossfire: Was lifting the school mask mandate the right move?

Lifting mandate carelessly enables virus spread

Khushi Rana A&E Editor

COVID-19 has remained a persistent threat for two years now, and nearly everyone has grown tired of its endless effects on society and everyday life. Many believe that the return to normalcy will be accelerated by ending mask requirements, but as easy as this back-to-reality conversion may seem, it is simply not the solution.

Lifting the mask mandate sounded ideal, but it will be detrimental once cases rise again. COVID-19 infections have become predictable, spiking near holidays and plateauing after. We learned last year that regulation rollbacks only work for a short period of time; once the next wave starts, it’s as though we’re back where we started.

An emerging variant known as BA.2 could threaten to derail pandemic progress yet again. Its transmissibility rate is reported to be higher than the original Omicron strain, BA.1.

Masks helped McLean and other schools overcome the Omicron wave around winter break. If masking had been partial like it is now, cases would surely be higher, especially considering that air circulation in many rooms remained inadequate and social distancing was physically impossible. Those issues continue to be unaddressed.

Even more concerning, McLean rolled back contact tracing when masks became optional. Students are not notified individually if they come in contact with an infected student, and isolation is optional. Seating charts were also phased out.

With spring break on the horizon, cases will inevitably rise. The outlook is grim: without universal masking, proper air circulation, social distancing, contact tracing or seating charts, it’s unclear if we can even remain open once cases spike.

There has been an increase in vaccination, but the rate among young people compared to the overall population remains low. According to the Virginia Department of Health, around 40% of the 5-17 age group in the state are unvaccinated as of March.

At the end of the day, masks are truly the only defense students have against the virus. The CDC found that people wearing surgical masks are 66% less likely to test positive for the virus than maskless people, and there are practically no other mitigation strategies in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The mask-optional policy at McLean is simply not the same as one in a Starbucks or even an office building. Those establishments have a private incentive to maintain mitigation strategies like frequent cleaning, and people have the choice not to remain in their buildings for long. School is mandatory—students don’t have the choice to walk out if they feel unsafe in a classroom.

“When the mask mandate was in place, it made me feel so much more safe than how I do now,” sophomore Ella Farivar said. “Now, I have to keep looking out for who is wearing their mask and who isn’t, which [distracts me from] my schoolwork.”

There is widespread evidence that young people are hospitalized from COVID-19 infections at lower rates than other age groups. This virus is new, however, and it’s still unclear what side effects it induces. Researchers and doctors are now acknowledging “long COVID,” which describes some infected individuals’ COVID-19 symptoms that persist well after recovery. Suggesting that students should stay in an unsafe building with relaxed health guidelines because they face fewer short-term risks fails to take into account the increasingly worrying evidence of long-term side effects.

The most successful strategy to decrease the spread of COVID-19 is to wear masks. A new variant and case spike are on their way, evidence that the pandemic isn’t over yet. To help secure McLean from impending doom, we should at least utilize the most basic and straightforward precaution possible: mandating masks, at least until the end of the school year.

At the end of the day, this mask mandate lift is not sustainable. It was made out of hasty political determination rather than acknowledgment of reality.

“I just want to feel safe at school again,” Farivar said. “My friends and I think the only way this can happen is if everyone starts wearing their masks again, so we can have more [protection against] COVID-19.”

was lifting the school mask mandate the right move?

Mask-optional policy is a step in the right direction

philip rotondo news editor

When people are young, change is normal. The world seems like a totally new place every two years anyway—why not throw a pandemic in the mix? Perhaps this is why high schoolers have taken so easily to wearing masks, and why now that they’re given the option to stop wearing masks, many elect to keep them on.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s ban on mask mandates was obviously politically charged and garnered a fair bit of criticism. While it may not have been the most seamless way to go about rolling back COVID-19 precautions, optional masking is not unreasonable in any way. In fact, it’s an important step to take towards going back to “normal,” if such a thing exists at this point.

It has been less than a month, but so far transmission rates in Fairfax County have not increased since FCPS made masking optional for students and staff on March 1. In fact, the circulation of the virus is nearly as low as it ever has been in the county and in the country: the seven-day average for new cases daily has been under 150 in Fairfax County since late February and has been steadily decreasing throughout the nation, now totalling a seven-day new case average of less than 40,000.

“Our transmission rate currently is low for community transmission in FCPS, and that also includes here at McLean,” Systems of Support Advisor Emily Geary said. “We have seen a significant decrease in cases and level of transmission from prior to December and January.”

By March 14, only three states still have statewide mandates on wearing masks indoors. Between January and February, almost half of state mask mandates were lifted. In the same amount of time, nationwide cases have dropped significantly.

As of March 10, Fairfax County is considered to have low community risk for COVID-19 by the CDC. Based on this assessment, the only preventative measures the CDC recommends people take are to stay updated on vaccines and to get tested when they experience symptoms of infection. According to the experts, the county is in a better position than it has been in a long time to start rolling back preventative measures against COVID-19.

“We have the CDC for this,” math teacher Natalia Gorine said. “The county follows the CDC recommendations, which makes sense to me, because if anyone knows anything about this disease, it’s probably the doctors. I think we should listen to them.”

The country has entered a new stage of the pandemic, marked mainly by mass vaccination. According to the CDC, 65.3% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated and 44.3% has had a booster. While variants pose a challenge due to their resistance to vaccines, the medical community’s ability to produce boosters that target variants was proved in the quickly defeated Omicron outbreak in December and January.

Vaccines entering the equation took the edge off of the pandemic. The first two shots were authorized back in May 2021, leading to a low in transmission in June. Variants to the original virus have appeared periodically, but thanks to growing vaccination rates, hospitalizations and deaths have remained relatively low considering how high transmission rates have become at times. As weird as it feels to say after two long years of loss and uncertainty, we have this under control.

If the goal is to get back to pre-pandemic living, removing mask mandates is the best way to go. A lot of people are still wearing their masks. Just because masks are no longer required doesn’t mean that everyone should rip them off as soon as they get the chance. Wearing a mask can be a statement of your respect for your neighbors. They still work, and Youngkin’s outright ban on mandating them was quite rash and inconsiderate. If there’s one thing the past two years have shown, it’s that the world can change significantly in the space of a few days.

Ultimately, a population that understands what is in its own best interests can make its own decisions. Some kids here at McLean have lost two years of their high school experience to COVID-19. It’s time to slowly and cautiously start moving on.

Cartoons by Jayne Ogilvie-Russell