States are ending mask mandates. Is that a good idea for school students?

States are ending mask mandates². Is that a good idea for school students?

Transcript³

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Annette Anderson of the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy schools, about the implications as several states start rolling back mask mandates in schools.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Mask mandates are on their way out. New York is expected to announce a change to its policy today. It will be the latest of several Democratic-led states to do so. California's governor says he will lift the indoor mask mandate¹ for vaccinated⁴ people next week but keep them mandatory⁵ in schools for now. But four states - New Jersey⁶, Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon - are all planning to end school mask mandates in March. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona says the decision may be a bit premature⁷.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIGUEL CARDONA: I'm really pleased that the numbers are getting better, but I still say we need to proceed with caution and make sure that our health experts are at the table when we're making decisions.

FADEL: To discuss all of this, we have Professor Annette Anderson. She's deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools. Professor Anderson, good morning.

ANNETTE ANDERSON: Good morning.

FADEL: So states like California and New Jersey have vaccination⁸ rates of more than 70%. They've had mask mandates for the better part of two years now. Is it time to drop the mandate and figure out how to live with COVID-19, including at schools?

ANDERSON: Well, I think the vaccination rates are great so far, but we are talking about schools and children, and I think that the vaccination rates for our elementary age students are not nearly at the 70-percentile threshold. So we've got concerns about unmasking in our schools, particularly in places where the vaccine⁹ mandates have not really reached a threshold of beyond 50%. The concern that we have is that for - particularly for our younger children, that only about 22% of the children between the ages of 5 to 11 have actually been vaccinated. And so when you hear - like in New Jersey, where Governor Murphy has said that they'll remove the masks for both preschool and daycares as well as K-12 schools, there's a concern because in that youngest age group of preschoolers, the vaccine isn't even available yet. So I agree with Secretary Cardona that it may be a little premature to move into this unmasking stage so soon, even though we hear that the numbers are dropping and the positivity rates are also declining.

FADEL: You know, for a lot of parents, it probably doesn't feel very soon, having their kids in and out of school. They're worried about mental health, social skills, their ability to learn without being able to see the teacher's face, the person's mouth moving. And ultimately, incidences of kids getting really ill are pretty low. So what would you say to parents that are saying, you know what, we want to take this risk?

ANDERSON: So I think that has really been the challenge of the pandemic, that there has not been clarity amongst federal, local and state agencies about who's really in charge in the decision-making. And I think it has left parents on their own to try to figure this out. Part of the concern is that there aren't clear metrics about how states are choosing to make the decision to remove masks in schools. So we hear things like case numbers are declining, positivity rates are dropping, hospitalizations are, you know, at a low. But we don't know what the metrics should be in order to help there be some science behind this decision-making. And so that's been a challenge for parents. Parents have had to kind of lean into this and make decisions on their own.

And so while I agree that there are lots of benefits to trying to help our kids to on-ramp to more, quote-unquote, "normality" through this Year 3 of pandemics in schools, I think that there's still some challenges that we have because if we just say that we're ready to unmask without some clear metrics in place and some key decision-makers identified, then we don't know whether or not we'll ever have to return to masks. Who's the decision-maker if that has to happen? There's a lot of confusion, I think. And so parents are making these decisions on a case-by-case basis, and I don't know that that is probably the smartest idea because the pandemic isn't over yet.

FADEL: Right. And, you know, local governments are making different decisions within the same state, so you talk about this mixed messaging. And you're a former teacher and principal. What would you recommend? When should schools remove mask mandates?

ANDERSON: Well, I think I'd like to see more of our 5 to 11-year-olds vaccinated. I think, again, that that's a strong barometer¹⁰ for safety in schools. So I think we should be thinking about how we can develop some clear guidelines around that. The question I also have is, are we ever going to need masks again? So, you know, we need to think about what kinds of decisions and decision points we need to have in place so that we can go to that information if we have to.

FADEL: Professor Annette Anderson from the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, thank you so much for your time.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

1 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

2 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

5 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

6 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

7 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

8 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

9 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

10 barometer   

n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标

参考例句：

• The barometer marked a continuing fall in atmospheric pressure.气压表表明气压在继续下降。
• The arrow on the barometer was pointing to"stormy".气压计上的箭头指向“有暴风雨”。