Our whole community is impacted by the choices our public schools make and keeping kids and all community members safe from COVID-19 is no exception. While all families assume some risk when sending their children out into the world, schools are obligated to mitigate those risks to the extent possible. Lakeview School District is currently choosing to abdicate this responsibility.

Calhoun County Health Department released the following press statement on August 3, 2021:

”In areas with substantial and and high transmission, CDC recommends that everyone (including fully vaccinated individuals) wear a mask in public indoor settings to help prevent spread of COVID-19, especially the delta variant, and to protect others.”

”This week Calhoun County was categorized as having substantial transmission.”

Without mandated masks, many students will likely forgo them. We know that we are most protected when all parties are wearing masks yet Lakeview School District is not mandating them for the upcoming 2021/22 school year.

We want our children back in school. We want our children to stay safe. We call on Lakeview School District to mandate universal masking until guidelines from public health authorities indicate it is safe to do otherwise. 

Image Description:

White text on purple background. The words "Lakeview-Approved Risk Levels" are circled in white, with arrows extending pointing to the top four levels of risk on an image depicting risk levels when one or more people do not wear masks. Image from the Washington State Department of Health shows "very high" risk if a person with Covid-19 and an uninfected person are both unmasked, "high" risk if only the healthy person is wearing a mask, "medium" risk if only the ill person is wearing a mask, and "low" risk if both people are wearing masks. Text next to these arrows reads: "if everyone chooses for themselves, all these risk levels are possible, eliminating safe choices for families who choose to mask." Bottom levels in the image show "very low" risk for both parties being masked and staying at least 6 feet apart (not the norm in schools), and a risk level of "virtually none" if everyone stays at home. White text in in a white box with an arrow pointing at the "low" risk level (both parties masked and less than 6 feet apart) reads: "Guideline for schools by CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics, MDHHS, and Calhoun County Health Department." Link to image source: https://okanogancountycovid19.org/facial-covering/  

Note that the image was created pre-Delta variant, which is much more contagious than previous variants and affects children more. Chances are that these risk levels are actually even higher than depicted given Delta's contagiousness.