New school year calls for many layers of COVID-19 protection
Re “Is Massachusetts prepared for COVID-19 safety in the classroom?” (Opinion, Aug. 30): Alan Geller is right: Starting school from a significantly higher summer baseline of Massachusetts COVID-19 deaths than last year, we should have layered mitigation measures in place. As we go into the cold season with its predicted COVID surges, all parents may want to consider the long-term risks to their children, including neuropsychiatric risks.
The Boston study showing the benefit of masking in school highlights a salient fact: Latino and Black communities’ pandemic traumas of recurrent illness, disability, bereavement, and widow- and orphanhood are worlds away from the losses, inconveniences, and, as the American Academy of Pediatrics reminds us, unfounded concerns about mask effects on child language development experienced in the well-off communities where many policy makers and frequent public commentators reside.
Chelsea and Boston schools that maintained masking followed prevalent opinion among parents who prefer community-level protections. Indeed, thousands of children in the wealthier communities where mask mandates were dropped could have been protected from infection.
Universal masking during surges is a significant equity issue since pediatric vaccination rates still show stark disparities in Massachusetts. When surges begin, all schools should seek to protect students and educators with the well-known layered mitigation measures, including universal masking.
Dr. Julia Koehler
Jamaica Plain
The writer is an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a pediatric infectious disease specialist.
