After two long years of the pandemic, Oregon’s mask mandate will be lifted on March 12th. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Multnomah County is a low risk-zone, and hospitalizations have gone down dramatically.
Even though we’re all tired of pandemic safety measures, lifting mask requirements entirely is unnecessarily risky at this point. Cases are at around the same levels that they were between the delta and omicron waves, and omicron is more transmissible than the dominant variant at that time.
Masks should still be a part of everyday life at Northwest Academy. According to the CDC, N95 and KN95 masks reduce the infection rate of Covid by 83%. As we’re hopefully coming to the end of this pandemic, it’s even more vital that we keep the infection rate as low as possible. However, with case numbers being as low as they are, loosening some of the social distancing rules is within the realm of possibility.
Vaccination and previous infection do provide some immunity, and it’s true that most people won’t end up in the hospital. Unfortunately, many elderly or immunocompromised people are still at risk for developing serious disease from omicron infection, according to the CDC.
Rather than making masks optional, we propose a temporary ruleset should be put into place after spring break. These suggested rules would both lessen the restrictions and ease some of the mask fatigue that permeates school life, but still protect members of the community.
While masks have served an essential purpose over the last two years, they bring with them a host of discomforts. They can hinder conversation and organic discussion, especially in a learning environment. The performing arts are constantly being affected by the constraint of masks during class; students have trouble projecting their voices and seeing each other’s facial expressions.
If performing arts students have the space to distance themselves six feet apart, they should do so without a mask, in class or on stage. This change will help lessen some mask fatigue, while giving some life to these classes.
Most Northwest Academy classrooms are too small for students to socially distance, so most classes should still require mask use. However, students should be able to quickly take off their mask for a drink of water or a bite of food, as currently they must leave the classroom to remove their mask at all.
In addition, sectioning off certain lunch areas for different grades isn’t really necessary anymore. There should be a limit on how many students can be in one area maskless at any given time, however. Adding more flexible seating will allow students to bond more with peers in different grades. Over this school year, the different grades have been split into separate pods with designated eating areas, making it difficult to mingle. During lunch, grades should be allowed to mix as long as students are distanced.
If we continue to watch Covid cases, properly ventilate rooms and get tested regularly, restrictions should be cautiously loosened. By dropping any and all mask requirements, Northwest Academy would choose to endanger our students, staff and their families, any of whom may be immunocompromised or otherwise at risk.
Most importantly, we should keep a close eye on Covid cases. Even these less restrictive rules might only be necessary for a couple of weeks, and if Covid cases continue to drop, the school can continue to remove safety measures. Still, it’s vital that we use prudent discretion in our decision making. If cases start to creep back up, we have to be ready to reintroduce stricter rules, including full-time mask mandates and increased distancing. After all, we all want this pandemic to be over. The safer we are, the sooner we can return to some kind of normalcy.
Photo: “How to a wear medical mask safely – Do’s” by World Health Organization is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
I really appreciate the three perspectives to this complex question before us, thank you!