The Patriot Post® · CDC and AAP Congratulate Themselves for Wrecking Children's Literacy
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now patting itself on the back for its excellent call to mask students in grades K-12. The CDC specifically capitalized on a study that used the state of Arkansas’s schools as a study group. Forgive us in advance, but we have questions about The Science™.
According to this report, the masks were proven to be effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in schools. The CDC isn’t the only one crowing with triumph — the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) also published a study that is a little more thorough. The AAP study discussed the data its researchers and scientists gleaned from 61 schools across nine states.
Upon a cursory inspection, it would seem that the data does confirm the studies’ premise … that is until you bother to read in depth the limitations.
Here were a few of the most telling “limitations” for both studies.
They relied on contact tracing.
They had shifting variables that influenced the numbers, such as schools changing masking policies based on whether the cases were high in their area.
Both studies were conducted on one strain of COVID-19, and that strain was Delta. This is pertinent because, with the advent of Omicron, contact tracing wasn’t possible. The spread was too fast. It also makes this data irrelevant since the virus is unlikely to revert back to Delta or Alpha settings.
Ultimately, the CDC and AAP taking credit for this “victory” in masking our children is petty in light of the lack of information (i.e., Omicron threw a wrench in the mix). Plus, the seriously damaging results that masking has had on children’s education in general and literacy in particular speak more toward the “cure” being worse than the disease.
We cannot emphasize this enough. Our children lost so much ground between lockdowns, masking, and virtual schooling. It is unlikely for them to regain all that ground. Their mental, emotional, and academic well-being were sacrificed at the altar of “the greater good.” For the CDC and AAP to even dare to justify their ridiculous stance on masking kids is an insult to our intelligence.
The CDC and the AAP aren’t the only organizations trying to justify their decision-making regarding masking children in this pandemic. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), wrote in a social media post (grammar in the original): “We are so glad that masks are coming off with the drop in Covid and in accordance with CDC guidelines. These new studies make clear if —our teachers and students ever need them again to keep communities safe and classrooms open, they work.”
This statement reads more like a threat in light of how Weingarten has used political thuggery and undue influence during this crisis. Never forget, she was not above holding our children hostage in order to push her agenda. It’s also ludicrous because of Omicron, the infection rate of which revealed masking to be merely a virtue signal — or, to quote CNN’s medical analyst Leana Wen, “facial decorations.”
The pandemic really did expose a lot of the dark underbelly of schools. But the gaslighting continues. These “studies” are yet another example of politics dictating science.