Dozens of doctors criticize Cherry Creek School District for not making masks mandatory

Eighty-one doctors with children successful the Cherry Creek School District signed a missive sent to territory leaders this week, chastising the determination to marque masks voluntary for its 55,000 students arsenic cases of COVID-19 proceed to dispersed successful Colorado.

“Without mandates, it volition beryllium intolerable to guarantee that unvaccinated children are protecting themselves and others,” reads the physicians’ letter, which was sent to Superintendent Christopher Smith connected Monday. “Without disguise mandates, you are ensuring a COVID outbreak successful your schools wherever vaccination rates are not optimal.”

Meanwhile, the committee of Douglas County commissioners sent the other connection this week, putting retired a connection connected the region schoolhouse district’s determination to recommend, but not require, masks for students and staff.

“At this time, based connected existent nationalist wellness data, Douglas County has nary involvement successful issuing nor supporting further disguise mandates …” the commissioners said. “We would respectfully promote our colleagues with the Douglas County School District, charter, and backstage schools to proceed to enactment citizens’ state to choose, including students and their parents.”

The contrasting messages represent the latest salvo in a heated conflict implicit whether disguise mandates successful school are indispensable oregon overkill, arsenic much schoolhouse districts rotation retired their coronavirus protocols for the 2021-2022 world year.

On Tuesday, Littleton Public Schools updated its disguise protocols by requiring unvaccinated employees to deterioration a disguise erstwhile they are wrong schools, on with parents, volunteers and visitors careless of vaccination status.

“As antecedently communicated, parents volition determine whether oregon not their children volition deterioration a disguise successful school,” the territory stated.

The contagious delta variant of the microorganism continues to spread, raising worries astir outbreaks successful Colorado classrooms. But authorities nationalist wellness information updated online Monday amusement that kids person debased susceptibility to the worst effects of COVID-19: little than 3.5% of radical 19 and younger person been hospitalized and lone a 4th of 1% of that property radical has died of COVID-19.

But the physicians’ missive to Cherry Creek officials notes that some the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics impulse that masks beryllium worn successful school. Voluntary disguise use, the doctors wrote, has the effect of “applying undue societal unit connected kids to bash what their friends are doing vis-a-vis masks; portion immoderate volition consciousness unit to deterioration them, I fishy astir volition consciousness unit to not bash so.”