Masks and kids

 

According to The Christian Century, Axios reports that despite the images of college kids partying away, not wearing masks or social distancing, their behavior appears to be far less callous than it might seem. Polling indicates that Generation Z is working to get their friends to take the warnings seriously. They are "willing to make short-term sacrifices so that we can get back to something resembling prepandemic life."

The doubters, it seems, are elsewhere. Like here. Last week, the Orange City Christian School determined that students would not be required to wear masks, even though at most schools in the area, masks are required at least for some students (in my grandson's elementary Christian school, masks are required for fifth through eighth grade students). The OCCS board's determination, which garnered them a story in the Des Moines Register--it's news, after all--was occasioned by a public warning from area hospitals that argued for more vigilance. 

For a week or so, Sioux County sat at the number one position in the state for the number of cases per 100,000 population. Today--I just checked--were #2.  A Friday ago already, local hospitals gathered public and private school administrators and made it clear that something had to be done. OCCS's sudden notoriety might well have been averted had they not argued that, in the board's opinion, masks do more harm than good.

That argument made OCCS an outlier. They argued that masks make communication difficult, which it does, and they said masks create a false sense of security, which may also be true. But when they went on to argue that improper mask use can lead to further spread of the coronavirus, an uncommon argument, they went out on a limb.

And then, almost impossibly, the board claimed they highly recommended masks anyway, despite all that horror, just wouldn't require them. Does that make sense?

The unavoidable conclusion is that, at least from a distance, it seems there are more Trump supporters on the board than not. I don't have to remind you that he doesn't--or didn't. 

Alas, all of this went down before the POTUS and his circle caught fevers, before what looks for all the world like a super-spreader happened right there on the White House lawn, where neither Trump nor most the other Republican crowd had donned masks. 

I don't know what my grandson thinks about having to wear his mask in fifth grade. He was here yesterday for Sunday dinner, and when we talked about it, he didn't complain. But then, really, who likes wearing masks? I don't. I don't like seat belts either. But today significantly more than 200,000 Americans have left empty spaces at family tables because of the reach of an evil virus. 

I don't know that it's fathomable yet, but the immense hit evangelical Christians (OCCS made headlines in great part because the word "Christian" is in their name) are taking from their bizarre political dalliance with our President appears to me, right now, to be almost beyond measure.