Hi Claude,

Thank you for sharing your perspective. I agree it is important to have healthy skepticism and not blindly follow whatever the media feeds us. But I respectfully disagree here.

While there is a lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of facemasks, there is similarly a lack of evidence supporting their ineffectiveness.

Imagine surgeons performing surgeries without gloves and masks just because there was no evidence for its effectiveness. Would you let them operate on your child?

I can understand people being hesitant about getting vaccinated as they don’t know how it will react within their bodies. There is risk involved even though there is proven scientific evidence for the effectiveness of these vaccines.

But I can’t understand what the big hue and cry is about wearing a simple mask. It cannot be denied that it is in some capacity blocking the transmission of droplets.

I don’t know its efficacy rate in a school setting where kids are in close contact with each other. My kids are not safe 100%. But one layer of protection is better than nothing. I don’t need the scientific evidence for it.

Masks may be uncomfortable, but it’s a very small ask. My kids keep extra masks with them. They change their masks when it gets wet or soiled. Teachers even encourage them to change their masks if they notice them dirty.

Parents who are fearful of sending their unvaccinated kids back to school are homeschooling them this year. Similarly, parents who do not want to send their children masked to school have the option of homeschooling their children.

Better to be safe than sorry is all I can say.