The Carroll County Times, a subsidiary of the Baltimore Sun, recently reported on dueling online petitions within Carroll County over the mask debate.
As reported in the article, Concerned Parents of Carroll declined to comment, as our policy requires that we engage with non-biased media.
The article is misleading at best and does not question the effectiveness of cloth masks or COVID risk to school-aged children, only that the CDC advises all students and staff wear masks.
While the CDC advocates the effectiveness of “properly worn” masks, it does not address the practicality of proper mask wearing among children, specifically cloth masks. The CDC’s issued guidance on masks, in terms of their effectiveness, and even the number of masks to be worn, has been conflicting at best.
The Carroll County Times also fails to mention that no school-aged children have died from COVID in Carroll. The latest statistics show that COVID, and the new delta variant, continues to pose a low risk to children, vaccinated adults, and healthy unvaccinated adults under the age of 70. In fact, the common flu poses a greater risk to children, yet the perceived higher risk of COVID to children continues.
Additionally, the organizer of the opposing mask-mandate petition was cited “the board accommodated for mask wearing before ‘and I don’t understand why they can’t accommodate this fall, especially with the Delta variant on the rise.’” This is false. Current CCPS policies accommodate mask wearing. There are no policies in place that prevent students from wearing masks.
Lastly, to clarify the situation regarding the censorship of our petition on change(dot)org: the platform removed our petition citing a violation of their “community guidelines”. When pressed for more information, change(dot)org reversed their stance and cited the petition was removed “by mistake”. To date, no specifics on the violations have been provided.
We encourage the Carroll County Times to increase their curiosity of the mask debate and actual COVID risk.
Visit our website to sign our new, privately hosted petition to keep masks a choice for parents and students. We owe it to our children to return school back to normal.