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September 1, 2021
By Jon King / [email protected]
A letter signed by more than 60 local health professionals has been sent to local and state health officials in support of a universal mask mandate for schools in Livingston County.
The letter (which is posted below) is dated August 26 and signed by a total of 64 medical professionals, including 46 doctors and 9 nurses. It was emailed Tuesday morning to various public health officials, including Livingston County Health Department Director Dianne McCormick, Elizabeth Hertel, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director and Michigan State Medical Director Dr. Joneigh Khaldun. .
In it, they state that they write as “Physicians and Advanced Practice Providers who live, work and / or provide health care to residents of Livingston County in public support to the Livingston County Health Department and to the MDHHS to impose universal masking for children in schools this fall. So far, state health officials have refused to issue such a warrant, recommending that local health departments make the call instead. To date, the LCHD has recommended that school districts require universal mask use, but has not mandated it. Meanwhile, Genesee, Wayne and Oakland County Health Departments are among those instituting some form of mask warrant.
Dr Raymond Smith and his wife live and work in Brighton, where he practices family medicine and she is a psychiatrist. In addition, their three children attend schools in the Brighton area. Smith, who helped write the letter, says they are very invested in their school and community and believe that in-person learning is extremely valuable for a child’s social growth and development. As physicians, Smith says they have obligations not only to their patients, but also to the greater good of their community. Due to the increase in the prevalence of COVID-19 per capita in the county, he fears that there is an increase in infections – which will lead to more missed time at school and work, more tests, more quarantines, more hospitalizations and morbidities related to the disease and potentially even mortality.
Smith told WHMI he believed there was political pressure to prevent some leaders from imposing too many terms and restrictions on individuals and parents. Smith said it was interesting to see how important things have been in the past in the county and how a bit back this year – although some county health departments are taking the lead in establishing mandates. Smith said Livingston “has the highest per capita case rate of anyone around us, yet there is no mandate in place and no universal masking policy.” He said the statistics available were interesting – noting that “the numbers change every day and every week, but when you start to watch trends you have to be more vigilant.”
Doctors, nurses and others who signed the letter note that universal masking in schools may be in line with Livingston County Health Department recommendations to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools, but that “No school district in Livingston The county … is implementing universal masking policies” while schools in the Brighton area “have actively voted by the school board not to implement universal masking policies”.
The letter goes on to say that in light of the increase in the delta variant, it is “imperative that schools follow the recommendations of the CDC, MDHHS and LCHD regarding the use of the universal mask,” adding that the variant delta is more than twice as contagious compared to the previous strain circulating last school year, with children under 12 “particularly vulnerable” because they do not yet have access to the COVID-19 vaccine. “When children are infected with the COVID-19 virus, even if they have few or no symptoms, they can develop a number of other conditions after COVID infection, including respiratory problems, myocarditis and other heart conditions, loss of smell and taste, developmental problems. problems, mental fatigue making it more difficult to learn, physical fatigue, headaches, effects on mental health, MIS-C and “COVID-19 long distance”.
The letter also includes statistics from the CDC which show Livingston County had the highest case rate of surrounding counties for the seven-day period that ended Aug. 24 at 201.5 cases per 100,000 people. By comparison, the second highest rate, the letter said, was Jackson County with 166.55 cases per 100,000. Neighboring Ingham County, where there is no full-scale mask warrant county, but many districts implemented theirs, it was only 88.23 cases per 100,000.
The letter, which includes links to various medical sources on COVID-19, ends with medical professionals saying they “care deeply about the health of Livingston County school children, education staff and the whole community “, and ask public health officials to help them” take care of this community by demanding the universal masking described by all of the organizations above to support children’s health. “
In response to the letter, LCHD Director McCormick told WHMI that she recognizes that those who signed the letter are “committed to keeping children and families safe and healthy” and that she values their “passion, expertise and opinion”. McCormick noted that the MDHHS “continued to provide strong recommendations to schools to demand mask warrants and work with their local health departments. The MDHHS has repeatedly stated that it will not issue a warrant and is provided as a recommendation for schools to adopt. In Livingston County, school boards have all made their mask policies a choice for parents with strong recommendations for masking, unless mandated by the MDHHS or LCHD To this end, we work closely with schools to monitor case data. Most cases are led by adults and most children who test positive are cases based on home exposure or exposures not associated with schools. Next week, we hope to deploy, in collaboration with schools, an alternative voluntary quarantine strategy that will integrate home testing. e with kits provided by LCHD to families for children exposed in class. will be referred daily by the parent to LCHD. This will keep the child exposed in the classroom and require him to wear a mask at school for the duration of his quarantine if parents enroll in this voluntary program. More information will be available soon.
MDHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin also responded, who provided the following response to WHMI:
“The MDHHS encourages all eligible Michiganders to get the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can. The vaccine is our best protection against the virus and how we can end this pandemic together. To locate a vaccine, visit VaccineFinder.org. “Sutfin says the state is” committed to ensuring Michigan students and educators are safe in the classroom, “and noted that they recently tightened their school guidelines to strongly recommend a universal mask mandate in schools as well as other prevention strategies developed by the CDC that schools and local health departments can use together to reduce the spread of COVID-19, maintain in-person learning, and protect people who are not yet fully immunized. ”Several local health departments and many school districts have already decided to require masks in schools; we applaud their efforts and encourage all districts in michigan to follow their example. We continue to work closely with school administrators and local health departments to provide advice on masking and prevention strategies and will continue to closely monitor the school population ”.
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