Faced with COVID-19 and misinformation, Manatee School Board may extend mask rule
As both COVID-19 and misinformation continue to spread, the School Board of Manatee County will decide whether to continue with a district-wide mask policy on Tuesday evening.
Board members voted 4-1 to launch the emergency mask requirement on Aug. 11. While the emergency action is set to expire, the board could embed a mask requirement in the district policy for disease prevention, which was first adopted in 2017.
If approved, the board could then vote to activate or deactivate the mask mandate whenever a pandemic threatens the community.
The continued mask mandate was supported by 74 percent of district employees — or 1,549 people — who took a recent poll. The district poll revealed a more narrow margin among parents: 59 percent — or 5,464 people — said they supported a continued policy, while the remaining 3,761 respondents said they were opposed.
“We all got plenty of emails from people on the mask issue. I’m sure between now and our November meeting we’re going to get more,” board member Scott Hopes said at the Oct. 27 meeting, after more than half a dozen people spoke against face coverings.
A handful of parents said they hoped to see the Manatee County school board sued for its mask requirement, as was the case in Sarasota County. That case was ongoing as of Monday, according to court records.
Others vowed to use the state’s Hope Scholarship — meant for students who were bullied, harassed or assaulted — and send their children to a private school, where masks are not always required.
Freedom and parental control are common themes between the lawsuit in Sarasota and recent comments at local school board meetings. Sometimes the local messaging was laced with anecdotes and falsehoods.
Guests at recent school board meetings have used their three minutes of public comment to falsely claim that face coverings lead to severe oxygen deprivation, carbon dioxide poisoning and even cancer — myths that originated on social media.
Some cited biased and unreliable sources, such as Rush Limbaugh, instead of relying on experts and their studies. And when a reliable source was referenced, it was sometimes misinterpreted.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend masks in its guidance for schools and child care programs, with few exceptions. The CDC advises against masks for children younger than 2 years old, along with anyone who has trouble breathing or removing the mask without help.
COVID-19 also remains a threat to Manatee County schools, according to reports from the district. They offered a glimpse at how many students and employees tested positive for the illness, along with the number of people who were exposed and forced to go into quarantine.
Week of Aug. 17: Seventeen cases and 136 quarantines.
Week of Aug. 24: Ten cases and 146 quarantines.
Week of Aug. 31: Fifteen cases and 387 quarantines.
Week of Sep. 8: Twelve cases and 115 quarantines.
Week of Sep. 14: Fourteen cases and 93 quarantines.
Week of Sep. 21: Eight cases and 96 quarantines.
Week of Sep. 28: Five cases and 82 quarantines.
Week of Oct. 5: Thirteen cases and 64 quarantines.
Week of Oct. 12: Twenty-six cases and 308 quarantines.
Week of Oct. 19: Twenty-seven cases and 224 quarantines.
Week of Oct. 26: Forty-three cases and 322 quarantines.
Week of Nov. 2: Nineteen cases and 164 quarantines.
Hopes, who is also an epidemiologist, has continually said the numbers would be worse without masks and other safety measures. He maintained that face coverings were a valuable tool in the fight against COVID-19, allowing the district to avoid large outbreaks and closures at local schools, where social distancing was sometimes impossible.
“Our responsibility as board members is to protect the health, safety and welfare of our students — which are the public’s children — and our staff,” he recently said.
Are masks dangerous?
In Manatee County, some parents and residents have called for fact-based decisions while simultaneously offering bad information.
A man addressed the school board on Aug. 25 and claimed that masks could lead to hypoxia, a condition that results from low oxygen levels in someone’s tissues. The same person has used social media to link masks with hypercapnia, which results from excessive carbon dioxide in the bloodstream.
“The prolonged use of medical masks can be uncomfortable,” the World Health Organization said on its website. “However, it does not lead to CO2 intoxication nor oxygen deficiency. While wearing a medical mask, make sure it fits properly and that it is tight enough to allow you to breathe normally. Do not re-use a disposable mask and always change it as soon as it gets damp.”
It was possible that headaches could result from prolonged mask use, but serious side effects and conditions — including hypercapnia — were unlikely, according to the CDC.
“The CO2 will slowly build up in the mask over time,” the agency said in a statement to Reuters. “However, the level of CO2 likely to build up in the mask is mostly tolerable to people exposed to it. You might get a headache but you most likely (would) not suffer the symptoms observed at much higher levels of CO2.”
It was unclear if the CDC statement was referencing the cloth and disposable masks that are more common outside of hospitals. The CDC has previously studied the link between tight-fitting N95 masks and the headaches experienced by some health care workers, a side effect that requires short mask breaks.
Several people have used the CDC’s own reports to discredit its mask recommendation. At the school board’s Oct. 13 meeting, a woman pointed to a report that said 70.6 percent of people in a study (108 people) had always worn a mask in the two weeks leading up to their COVID-19 diagnosis.
The figure quickly spread on social media, prompting the CDC to issue a clarification on Twitter. It said “the interpretation that more mask-wearers are getting infected compared to non-mask wearers is incorrect.”
“Even for those who always wear a mask, there are activities where masks can’t be worn, like eating or drinking,” the agency reported. “People w/ COVID-19 were more likely to have eaten in a restaurant.”
“CDC guidance says that wearing a mask is meant to protect other people in case the mask wearer has #COVID19,” it continued. “Much evidence shows wearing masks in public reduces transmission by blocking exhaled respiratory droplets.”
Two weeks later, at the board’s Oct. 27 meeting, a woman cited the New England Journal of Medicine to question the effectiveness of masks. She read from a report that said masks “serve symbolic roles.”
“Masks are not only tools, they are also talismans that may help increase health care workers’ perceived sense of safety, well-being, and trust in their hospitals,” it reads. “Although such reactions may not be strictly logical, we are all subject to fear and anxiety, especially during times of crisis.”
In response to people using the report for their anti-masking arguments, the New England Journal of Medicine said in a follow-up article that it strongly supports the use of masks when social distancing is not possible.
“In truth, the intent of our article was to push for more masking, not less,” the organization said on its website, noting that many asymptomatic people spread the virus by accident, and that “universal masking” helped to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“We did state in the article that ‘wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection,’ but as the rest of the paragraph makes clear, we intended this statement to apply to passing encounters in public spaces, not sustained interactions within closed environments,” the article continued.
What to expect on Tuesday
More than half a dozen people spoke against face coverings at the Oct. 27 meeting, catching the attention of board member Dave Miner.
“We heard so many cogent statements earlier tonight about masks,” he said. “I hate masks. I don’t think anybody likes masks. Maybe the Lone Ranger or something. It’s uncomfortable for everybody. And we’ve heard remarks about how it can negatively affect health tonight. It’s not just health preservation, but it can be health deprivation. That was one of the messages that we heard.”
He went on to say that wearing a mask was about more than district policy. Many experts and public health agencies have said that face coverings were a key element in the fight against COVID-19, especially when social distancing was impossible.
“I’m inclined to believe that, but I haven’t really seen the research about how much it has a negative effect on health, and we are hearing about that tonight,” Miner continued. “I’m glad that was brought to our attention. That’s why we do have public comment.”
Hopes was likely to vote in favor of the continued mask requirement, as was Vice-Chair Charlie Kennedy, an early backer of the safety measures. Kennedy has also supported the “allowances” in Manatee’s current policy, including certain measures for students with disabilities and outdoor mask breaks for all students.
Board member James Golden said on Oct. 27 that he would rely on the advice of health experts, including Dr. Jennifer Bencie, who heads the Florida Department of Health in Manatee County.
“While my heart hurts that having a mask policy does create difficulties for some families, my overarching goal here is to deal with what’s best for the district,” Golden said.
Board Chair Gina Messenger said she would consider a variety of input and solutions. Messenger often argued in favor of parent choice and other safety measures before she cast the dissenting vote on Aug. 11, when the emergency mandate was passed.
“We will have to listen to the health department,” she said at the Oct. 27 board meeting. “We will have to listen to the teachers. We will have to listen to the parents and try to find something that we can do to work together that aligns with the CDC.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 4:18 PM.