In the OC, Masks Are Out for Schoolkids

This is Orange County.Kevin Drum

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Here in Orange County, the Board of Education has recommended that children should go back to school next year. This is a defensible position. As the board’s white paper says, the science on this is unresolved, and there are good arguments that the benefits are worth the risk as long as proper precautions are—

The document states that since children represent the “lowest risk cohort for COVID-19 … social distancing of children and reduced census classrooms is not necessary and therefore not recommended.”
….The document also states that requiring children to wear masks was not recommended given that it “is not only difficult — if not impossible to implement — but [is] not based on science” and “may even be very harmful.”

The Ed Board is not just recommending that everyone do their own thing, which would be bad enough. They are specifically recommending that social distancing not be done and that masks not be worn. According to the board, this is a way for adults to “model courage and persistence in the face of uncertainty and fear.” I live among idiots.