Thank you all again for your support in this campaign! We are working diligently behind the scenes to ensure some action is taken on this matter, but we need your help! Please help us flood the inboxes of our city officials, health department leaders and MNPS board. They need to hear directly from all of us why this issue is important for the safety of our kids and our community!
We have made it easy with this template that you can copy and paste, edit to make it your own. It's important to use a compelling title in your subject line, as these emails usually don't get read in their entirety. We have posted the email template and the email addresses on our Facebook and Twitter @MnpsSafe, but putting it here for easy access.
Dear ____________,
My name is ___________ , and I am writing to call upon our city leaders and school board to protect our children and fight the spread of COVID. We are concerned about the possibility of children going back to school unmasked, with the majority being unvaccinated, especially at the elementary age. We know that masking works to decrease spread of disease (1, 2, 3). Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend all children, teachers and staff continue to mask indoors regardless of vaccination status (4). The virus variants and number of COVID cases in our community are increasing, particularly the delta variant (5), which has proven to be more highly transmissible and infectious than previous variants. Vaccinated people can still become sick and spread disease, and our community has not received enough vaccinations to reach herd immunity. Many studies claiming mask ineffectiveness and/or negative psychological effects have been retracted (6, 7). The potential benefits of continuing to wear masks far outweigh the potential harms.
We agree with the AAP and CDC recommendations that in-person learning is best for intellectual and social development of children. However in-person education will only be able to proceed if we can keep schools open and maintain a safe and inclusive learning environment; the expressed goal of the 2021-22 School Year Guidance communication. We hope to work toward that common goal of continued in-person education safely and with limited interruptions. If COVID cases continue to increase, it can spread rapidly amongst the unvaccinated, and potentially more so among those who do not wear masks or socially distance.
We respectfully request that you require children, teachers and staff in the K-6 setting who do not yet have the option to be vaccinated to wear masks indoors at school, following the consensus guidance of the AAP and CDC in order to limit the spread of COVID, and so that we may continue in-person safely with the goal of minimizing quarantines and school closures (5).
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
1. Ueki H, Furusawa Y, Iwatsuki-Horimoto K, Imai M, Kabata H, Nishimura H, Kawaoka Y. Effectiveness of Face Masks in Preventing Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2. mSphere. 2020 Oct 21;5(5):e00637-20. doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00637-20. PMID: 33087517; PMCID: PMC7580955
2. Wang J, Pan L, Tang S, Ji JS, Shi X. Mask use during COVID-19: A risk adjusted strategy. Environ Pollut. 2020 Nov;266(Pt 1):115099. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115099. Epub 2020 Jun 25. PMID: 32623270; PMCID: PMC7314683.
3. Bundgaard et al. Effectiveness of Adding a Mask Recommendation to Other Public Health Measures to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Danish Mask Wearers : A Randomized Controlled Trial. Ann Intern Med. 2021 Mar;174(3):335-343. doi: 10.7326/M20-6817. Epub 2020 Nov 18. PMID: 33205991; PMCID: PMC7707213.
4. American Academy of Pediatrics. July 18 2021. Covid-19 Guidance for Safe Schools. https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. July 20, 2021. Covid Data Tracker. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions
6. Vainshelboim, Baruch. “Retracted: Facemasks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesis.” Medical hypotheses vol. 146 (2021): 110411. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2020.110411
7. Christakis, Dimitri, and Phil B Fontanarosa. “Notice of Retraction. Walach H, et al. Experimental Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Content in Inhaled Air With or Without Face Masks in Healthy Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. Published online June 30, 2021.” JAMA pediatrics, e213252. 16 Jul. 2021, doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.3252
Full List for Copy/Paste
gentryfordistrict1@outlook.com; elrodforschools@gmail.com; emily.masters@mnps.org; john.little@mnps.org; CBuggs@mnps.org; franbush5@gmail.com; freda.player@mnps.org; virginia.pupo-walker@mnps.org; abigail.tylor@mnps.org; directorofschools@mnps.org; mayor@nashville.gov; carol.etherington@vanderbilt.edu; tenefranklin@gmail.com; boardofhealth@nashville.gov; cmsmith@mmc.edu; lisa.piercey@tn.gov
Nashville School Board
Dr. Sharon Gentry gentryfordistrict1@outlook.com
Rachel Anne Elrod elrodforschools@gmail.com
Emily Masters emily.masters@mnps.org
John Little john.little@mnps.org
Christiane Buggs CBuggs@mnps.org
Fran Bush franbush5@gmail.com
Freda Player-Peters freda.player@mnps.org
Gini Pupo-Walker virginia.pupo-walker@mnps.org
Abigail Taylor abigail.tylor@mnps.org
MNPS Director of Schools
Dr. Adrienne Battle directorofschools@mnps.org
Nashville Mayor
Mayor John Cooper mayor@nashville.gov
Nashville Health Board
Carol Etherington carol.etherington@vanderbilt.edu
Tene Franklin tenefranklin@gmail.com
David Frederick and Dr. Alex Jahangir boardofhealth@nashville.gov
Dr. Calvin Smith cmsmith@mmc.edu
Tennessee Health Department Commissioner
Lisa Piercey lisa.piercey@tn.gov
THANK YOU ALL! Your continued efforts and support is what will make this happen! Stay safe and stay masked!