This petition has been started to implore our leadership to lift the mask mandate for our children. It is time to put political games aside and listen to science. 

For decades, science has proven the shortcomings and inefficacy of cloth and medical masks for the general public. When coronavirus first started impacting our community, the fear of the unknown was understandable. The need for “felt safety” and a visible response almost completely diminished science-based facts and everyone was forced to wear a mask.

It has been over a year now though. Recent studies have not only underscored the truth of masks but also highlighted the dangers of mask mandates, most especially in children.

You are all intelligent men and women, so I will not waste your time and rehash all of the data to you. I leave you with a list of references, highlights that may interest you enough to continue researching, and a request that we stop compromising the health and well-being of our children. 

- In a study of 25,930 children, impairments caused by wearing the mask were reported included irritability (60%), headache (53%), difficulty concentrating (50%), less happiness (49%), reluctance to go to school (44%), malaise (42%) impaired learning (38%) and drowsiness or fatigue (37%).
- There are 74.2 million children in the US; fewer than 200 have died of Covid in 15 months. Of those that were positive, only 1.3% needed acute medical care. Children face 1.5x higher risk of dying from the flu, 3x higher risk of dying from car accidents, 10x higher risk of dying from drowning, and more than 20x higher risk of dying from homicide.
- In the past year, children aged 5-11 have experienced a 25% increase in mental health crisis situations resulting in ER intervention, largely related to mandated interventions including masking and the impact it has had on their well-being. Children aged 12-18 have experienced a 32% increase! 
- Asymptomatic carriers do not cause infection, confirmed by real-time laboratory testing. Further, even symptomatic children are not viral load carriers and are not largely considered spreaders to adult caregivers.

- 97% of viral particles from symptomatic carriers penetrate through cloth masks (the virus is 1000x smaller than the tightest cloth threading) while simultaneously increasing the risk of respiratory infection of the wearer by 6x.

The risks are far reaching and long lasting; the statistically insignificant benefits once believed possible are not worth the physical, emotional, or psychological impact to our children. Masking healthy children is child abuse. Please do what is right and lift the mandate.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/?report=reader (the only RCT study on masks)

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2781743​

https://wirepoints.org/are-masks-still-needed-in-illinois-schools-wirepoints/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4358015/?report=reader

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32371934/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7219423/?report=reader

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7680614/#!po=64.9254

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-124394/v1?fbclid=IwAR1y-gSTGkmHpFYT1deG3iDrUF3qocB_SbpEvrWkj6Z4fTWDwHKptKmLyjE

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3437652/​

https://res.mdpi.com/d_attachment/vaccines/vaccines-09-00693/article_deploy/vaccines-09-00693-v2.pdf​

https://www.sott.net/article/434796-The-Science-is-Conclusive-Masks-and-Respirators-do-NOT-Prevent-Transmission-of-Viruses?fbclid=IwAR3Mb9yrhwLi1UQXkwgvwdclCfgQSsPEeTyEWyaFddM1ACMzPo0F4sVn82g​

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmc2004973​

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/5/4/e006577.full.pdf​

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7228345/pdf/JEBM-9999-na.pdf​

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2749214

Practical example... strep and norovirus (TEN times the size of coronavirus) are spreading like wildfire through our district despite the masks (even at recess!), nullifying any claim that the masks prevent the spread of contagious illness. Masks do not work. Hard stop.