It is absurd that we are still talking about masking children, but the Biden administration has been the biggest proponent of it and is refusing to back down, as GOP Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is finding out.
On his first day in office, Youngkin signed an executive order that allows parents to opt out of mask mandates for their children in schools. This is obviously backed by the science: Children are not at serious risk from COVID-19 and are, in fact, at more risk from the flu. Unvaccinated children are safer from COVID-19 than vaccinated adults. Masks are obnoxious tools that inhibit learning and social development, particularly for younger students, while only making panicked liberals feel safe, even if they are already vaccinated.
But panicked liberals are President Joe Biden’s base, and so, mask mandates must continue. White House press secretary Jen Psaki took a shot at Youngkin and praised Arlington Public Schools for continuing to push mask mandates and “standing up for our kids, teachers and administrators and their safety in the midst of a transmissible variant.”
Arlington Public Schools, meanwhile, claimed that it is simply following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC wants COVID-19 guidelines to be tougher on children than adults, despite all available evidence that children are at the least risk from COVID-19 but are most damaged by COVID-19 restrictions.
AND @APSVirginia admits that they’re using the CDC’s guidance/data. @davidzweig has debunked the Arizona study that the CDC relies on to falsely promote that masking children mitigates the transmission of COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/Gl0oFPIDu6
— Chrissy Clark (@chrissyclark_) January 17, 2022
The CDC still recommends masking for children in schools and has been doing so based on a faulty study that CDC Director Rochelle Walensky frequently cited on television. That faulty study, and the distorted risk analysis of the CDC, is being used to justify the forced masking of children, all with the public support of Psaki and the White House. School districts, of course, take the panicked assessment to the extreme, while Arlington Public Schools is trying to score political points against Youngkin at the expense of Arlington students.
But it is Youngkin, not Psaki, the CDC, or Arlington who is in the right. Children should not be forced to wear masks. It makes a negligible difference to their safety and the safety of teachers, who can go get vaccinated if they are concerned about COVID-19. On the data, the science, and the common sense, Youngkin is right. But the disgrace of mandatory masking for children is going to continue throughout much of the country because the Biden administration continues to support it.
