Warns of using discredited sources for virus data

Vox Pop

Whether to have Rib Lake school kids wear a mask or not for the final 39 days of school is really a question presented to the Rib Lake School Board? With two discredited sources cited saying masks don’t work?

Let me correct the record from highly accredited sources: · Harvard University: Robert H. Shmerling M.D. Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing “the best available evidence shows that we should all be wearing masks because doing so will reduce the spread of infection and save lives. It’s much harder to make a compelling case against wearing masks.”

· Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Dr. Chris Beyer, an esteemed epidemiologist. “Research suggests wearing a cloth face-covering could block between 65% and 85% of viral particles, Dr. Beyer says, which increases the chances of experiencing milder disease and the likelihood of having an asymptomatic infection. “Dose matters,” he says. “When you wear a mask, you are less likely to get sick, and less likely to experience severe disease.”

This is not a political issue – it is a matter of children not getting infected or possibly, unknown to them, carrying the virus and infecting others. Wearing a mask couples with social distancing, frequent hand washing, for those 16 and older getting a vaccination against Covid 19 so the kids and adults around us are protected. No one wants a maskless child infected because a parent won’t wear a mask and passes that negativity on to that child.

In the worldwide flu pandemic in 1918 and 1919 everyone wore masks. We all have individual and community lives. We each have multiple personal responsibilities to our families and multiple community responsibilities to others in the community we live in. Wearing a mask is a sign of caring for both our families, personal friends, and the neighbors in our communities.

If we are parents, we have lots of parental responsibilities for example the State of WI requires various vaccinations for kids beginning at age 2 and onward (Polio anyone? Nope there is a vaccination for that).

Remember when seat belts were necessary? Many hated the idea of having to wear a seat belt – but we discovered: (National Traffic Safety Association) “Of the 22,215 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2019, 47% were not wearing seat belts. Seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives and could have saved an additional 2,549 people if they had been wearing seat belts, in 2017 alone. The consequences of not wearing, or improperly wearing, a seat belt is clear.”

I agree 100% we protect our kids by insisting they wear masks in school – and adults wearing masks in enclosed spaces even if they are vaccinated are applauded as well. Someday this pandemic will be over – it is reported that when 70% of the population are vaccinated Covid 19 and its variants will be no more. In the meantime, how about everyone wears a mask, does social distancing, wash their hands frequently, and stays safe. Your life and kid’s lives matter. — Sue Roupp, Rib Lake