Early on in the pandemic, the CDC wrote “Masks should NOT be worn by children under age 2 or anyone who has trouble breathing, is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.”
Airlines inferred that to mean toddlers from the age of 2 need to wear a mask, and all US airlines except Delta made that a requirement last year. I think Delta was the only airline that actually read the CDC’s original statement correctly…
I called out the Washington Post for incorrectly reporting that Delta would also require 2 year olds to wear a mask, which they then corrected.
I’ve written here many times asking why 2 years old is the magical cutoff. Is there any science that says those under 2 aren’t spreading COVID, but toddlers magically become COVID spreaders at 24 months?
If it’s arbitrary, then why 2? Nearly every other country exempts toddlers from wearing masks as they lack the maturity to keep a mask on.
And like I pointed out many times, commenter aaron said it best , “I have a hard enough time getting my 2 year old to keep his pants on!”
President Biden’s executive orders then forced Delta to change their rules and require 2 year olds to wear a mask.
Airlines like Lufthansa exempt children under 6 from wearing a mask, but they are required to enforce President Biden’s executive order requiring masks on 2 year olds for US flights.
Sure enough, countless incidents have occurred on US airlines.
- Southwest kicked a 3 year old autistic child off a flight.
- JetBlue kicked a 2 year old off a flight just as their rule went into effect, despite their website not being updated with their new policy. They updated their website after kicking the family off the plane!
- American kicked a 2 year old off a plane.
- United kicked a 2 year old off a flight.
- Frontier kicked multiple families off a flight for a 1 year old not wearing a mask.
- Spirit kicked a 2 year old off a flight while blaming the adults and then walked that statement back after saying they would circle back to me about video evidence contradicting their claims.
There are countless more stories like this.
I do think some would have been avoided if people fed their kids before boarding and made their kids wait to eat until the flight was in the air. But that’s neither here nor there.
My wife and I are fully vaccinated, but have no plans to bring our 4 kids onto a plane anytime soon. Our toddler simply won’t keep her mask on, so we’re not going to voluntarily put ourselves into a situation that may end up with us being kicked off a plane.
Sure, most flight attendants look the other way. But by the rules of the book, they’re not doing anything wrong if they enforce the rules and kick you off the flight. And we’ve all encountered surly flight attendants that insist on everything being by the book.
That’s fine and dandy for us as we have nowhere we need to critically go to, but what about families that need to travel for business or medical reasons? How is it fair to require a toddler to wear a mask when they’re not mature enough to understand or follow the rules?
And how did we get here in the first place?
That’s why I was glad to see Bethany Mandel’s tweet today that 30 members of Congress have written to the CDC demanding answers on the science behind the rule and why small children need to be masked:
I’ve spent a great deal of time on this issue and I’m so thankful to all of the Members of Congress who took the time to hear my case. The offices of @RepJasonSmith and @SenMikeLee put an enormous amount of effort into writing this and building a coalition to make this happen.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) April 22, 2021
You can read the letter to the CDC here.
It cogently outlines all of these questions and points out that other countries have mask rules for 6, 11, or 12 years old.
It also shows data supporting that young children aren’t the ones spreading COVID.
And it clearly asks, why exactly was the age set to 2 and what is the science supporting it?
As Bethany writes, if your representative hasn’t signed on, be sure to call or write to them and let them know this is an important issue for you,
If your Member of Congress has not signed on, call them today and ask them to be involved with @SenMikeLee and @RepJasonSmith on this issue.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) April 22, 2021
You can find your representatives by typing in your address here.
You can also like and retweet Bethany’s posts and these posts:
Finally! Members Of Congress Ask The CDC Why They Picked 2 Years Old As The Age To Require Masks; When Will Airlines Stop Kicking Toddlers Off Their Planes? @CDCgov https://t.co/vcJQeNz5gP
— DansDeals (@DansDeals) April 23, 2021
@bethanyshondark @CDCgov @POTUS Do the right thing! #RaiseTheMinimumAge and stop kicking toddlers off planes!
— DansDeals (@DansDeals) April 23, 2021
Hopefully the CDC will respond with the science behind requiring 2 year olds to wear a mask, or by changing the rules to exclude toddlers from wearing a mask, as is done by nearly every other country in the world.
Will you write to your representatives to let them know how you feel?
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112 Comments On "Finally! Members Of Congress Ask The CDC Why They Picked 2 Years Old As The Age To Require Masks; When Will Airlines Stop Kicking Toddlers Off Their Planes?"
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I absolutely support airlines having mask requirements. It’s their right as companies however I think most if not all minors should be excused. Btw i scored $280 round trip from stl-hnd. Thanks Dan!
Exactly what I’m advocating for.
Enjoy Japan, that was an amazing deal!
if they are excused, then an infected kid can potentially spread it throughout the whole plane? there may be a person on the flight in the high risk category and your putting his life at risk by having even a 3 year sitting on a flight unmasked for a long duration flight.
So what about a child under 2?
At 24 months, science says that they magically become non-contagious.
Correct, just like at 8 PM when lockdowns go unto effect.
The people who developed the virus put very specific rules into it. And what’s even more interesting is the virus adapts to local time, not to UTC
If YOU are wearing a mask, what does it matter if anyone else isn’t? I mean, masks protect you from sucking in a virus. Right? lol/smh
I hate masks as much as the next guy and never wear one when I don’t have to but please stop with that ridiculous argument it’s not helping anything and makes us all look dumb.
No one believes the masks are 100 percent effective so if the potential spreader is wearing a masks that lowers the chance of it getting thru and then the potential spreadee wears a mask which is for those cases where the droplet gets thru it has to get thru another mask. It’s like if asking if you have locks why do you also have an alarm.
No, WRONG. A mask is NOT 100% effective, not even close.
yeah, it is like asking if you wear seatbelt, why are you worried about intoxicated drivers…
When Japan is going to open up for US travelers?
Finally!!!
The age of 2 was selected because it is the youngest age where a mask doesn’t pose a hazard or that a child can communicate distress from the mask.
It therefore stands to reason that all children should wear masks when it is safe to do so, as children can spread COVID as well.
There are exceptions for medical reasons, which would include a child who is developmentally disabled such that he or she either cannot wear the mask or cannot communicate distress.
And yet, every other country picked an age where children can actually understand and comply with the rule, rather than pick an age where a toddler can’t possibly understand or comply.
That has caused countless families to get kicked off of their flights. It’s enough already, you can’t make a toddler mask if they don’t want to.
Great point. It does sound, however, that either you never had children or you are a male and do not hear your babies cry if you think that kids under two cannot communicate distress
Excuse my language. This is pure sophistry, or at the very least casuistry. Your fallacious arguments are based on a presumption attenuated from reality. The medical experts who articulated this reasoning most likely lack acquaintance with children.
Aha! But YOU are an expert epidemiologist!
It becomes manifest that you have a hard time with reading comprehension
Huge Yasher Koach and a great read!!
Are any of the signatories Democrats? Because if they’re not I pretty much envision this either being ignored and/or nothing changing
If they hear from constituents, hopefully they will join in.
You mentioned that Spirit told you they’ll Psaki back to you. However, you don’t say whether or not they came full circle. Me suspects that you did hear from them, but off the record…
Their only response was the issuance of a new statement that removed the blame on the parents for not masking.
Has anyone shared a sample text of the email to be sent to your local rep or senator?
My friend’s two year old granddaughter was banned from flying Lufthansa FOR LIFE because she wouldn’t keep her mask on. Beyond ridiculous. (And apparently there were non Jewish (or at least not visiblly Jewish) passengers sitting near them who kept taking theur masks off the the FA did nothing.) Police met my friend’s daughter SIL and granddaughter when the plane landed in NY. The officer laughed when he saw who he was brought there to deal with.
If the airlines voluntarily adapted these ridiculous policies before it was a federal law, why would they change it if the law does? They chose these policies because they felt it’ll make passengers more comfortable flying, so why would this change it?
The CDC recommendation is true that probably all masks help on some level, being impractical isn’t the CDC’s problem, it’s the airlines’. I don’t think Biden’s mask order would’ve applied to 2 year olds if most of the airlines weren’t doing it anyway.
1. They were more lenient about it before the executive order. Now kids get kicked off even when they’re eating as you need to replace your mask in between each bite.
2. Airlines like Delta didn’t have the rule for young children. Now they have to, so people have no choice of another carrier.
3. I still suspect the whole thing was a misinterpretation of the CDC’s original guidance that those under 2 should not wear a mask. But once United made the rule, most others copied verbatim as airlines so often do. Once the CDC made the rule, they just kept it as the airline already chose.
Bottom line is that changing the age will allow airlines to do as they please. And I suspect that at least some if not all would then raise the age.
I see both sides of this to some degree. It’s the CDC’s job to give guidance based on the best medical data available. At the same time, they do account for what they think will be most effective overall, partially based on what they think people can handle. For example, they changed the number of days required for quarantine from 14 to 10, not because they thought 10 was just as good medically, but because they thought most people would abide by 10 and not 14, and the risk differential between 10 and 14 was small enough to justify it.
Masks don’t stop the spread of covid.
Not going to turn this into another pointless mask debate. That’s not the point of this post.
i agree its not the point of the post. i disagree having the mask mandate debate is pointless. the fact is the real life data showed mask mandates did nothing to stop the spread, even according to the latest cdc report/study which showed masks lowered the risk by 1.4% which is in the margin of error. also you got texas and lets not forget the greatest whipping state FLORIDA!
We do lots of things in Judaism because of a maybe on a maybe, which is why I don’t eat gebrokts on Pesach. I’m happy to wear a mask if there’s a chance it will help, and many studies say there is.
But a toddler is a different story.
Again, not having a general mask debate here. Feel free to open a DDF thread if you want that again.
Until when will you play it safe? There is always risks in life. Forget about new variances, there’s always risk of new viruses. (Better safe than human!)
I’ll wear it where rules or laws mandates it. That’s the price of being part of society and it’s not that big of a deal to me as an adult.
If people get vaccinated, the rules will change sooner.
There seems no indication from Fauci and his crew that the rules will be changing any time soon
States make state laws, not the CDC or NIH.
The CDC just made rules for transit. And I’m OK with that, but I’d like to see the rule lifted for toddlers.
Everyone in the high risk category had been vaccinated. Everyone else has an option to get one. Yet Fauci hasn’t said when this craziness will end. I think that’s pretty telling. They also told us if everyone wears mask this will go away. I think it’s time for people start using seichal.
Guess you haven’t noticed that the more people that are vaccinated, nothing is changing and in our dem-controlled state the lockdown mentality is actually increasing. Don’t be so naive.
“If there’s a chance it will help…” Wow. Imagine what our government could make us all and force us to behave if everyone had this mentality. Better get used to wearing that mask and social distancing and not eating at restaurants…etc., for the rest of your life because there will ALWAYS be “a chance” that could save you from picking up some germ someone might have. Don’t be so easily manipulative. Otherwise, you WILL be wearing a mask the rest of your life.
Where did you get that 1.4%?
PEOPLE stop the spread of covid
I sure hope they come to their senses. I’ve enjoyed 3 very needed vacations to Florida during the pandemic. From our first trip, I have a nice picture of (unimaginable pre-pandemic) an empty Philadelphia airport on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. On our 2nd and 3rd trips, the airports are starting to look more normal. Lucky for us, our kids are over 10 and understand the rules. I wouldn’t have attempted flying had my kids been under 6 for sure.
To those who believe that passengers over 2 shouldn’t be exempt from wearing a mask: Would you feel more comfortable if those aged 2-6 could go maskless only if they have a negative test from the past 24 hours?
why can we just agree according to the data, meaning there is virtually -none 0 – that throughout this whole pandemic there has been a chief transmission,outbreaks on airplanes?? and please dont tell me its bec were all wearing masks! airlines were crunching people in like sardines. while btw our shulls were closed/having restrictions for capacity. at the beginning there were people on airlpanes (i admit very few) but there was hardly any masking going and yet no case i heard of from people catching it on an airplane.
It not just about data – it’s people’s perceptions – I just want folks to feel comfortable about travelling, and reasonable for parents of small children so I proposed a solution that I thought was reasonable for both sides of the argument.
sure we can go according to the data but lets not cherry pick eh?
Here are some sources that demonstrate maskless spread occurs on airplanes.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7016e1.htm?s_cid=mm7016e1_w
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/3/20-4714_article
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.02.20143826v4
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/11/20-3299_article
Most people don’t seem to understand that when the CDC issues guidelines, they are exactly that..guidelines. They’re not meant to cover every possible scenario that one may encounter. The airline employees in your videos seem incapable of understanding that concept. Medicine is never black and white. There are countless shades of grey. The airlines need to train their employees much better for when the oddball case inevitably presents itself.
because sometimes people dont use there brains!! whatever the CDC said they used as gospel. one thing this pandemic has done weve thrown logic out the window. i know i know, its very logical that wearing masks, works..i get it! thats why if its logical to you the you should wear one. see that but that wasnt the pitch to us, the pitch was -“we were masks not to protect yourself BUT so we can protect others” “were all in this together” very smart marketing!!!!! this whole mask thing was a great divider!
I hate the saying “we’re all in this together”. Yeah we are all together unless I disagree with how our leaders want to proceed. Then our leaders want to destroy me and my business. They have no intention of being together with me.
Can you post a form letter to copy/paste into the emails?
Because there has to be a cutoff. Otherwise you and I both know that many folks would say “my 8 year old can’t wear one”
Disagree.
Ohio’s mask mandate is 10 and over. Schools in my city have a 5 or 6 years and older mandate.
People can accept reasonable limits. An 8 year can understand rules.
And an 8 year old can understand that if you don’t wear a mask police will kick them off. Or they won’t go to Grandma or Disney or wherever.
I really don’t intend to sound patronizing but I think that your sentiment that little children have a harder time wearing masks is completely wrong. In fact I know it is wrong and so will every one who is living out of town and sending their kids to a school that actually enforced mask wearing.
Within two weeks of the beginning of school it became quite obvious to all the parents that in fact the ~2.5 to 6 year old age group has by far the EASIEST time wearing masks. They started doing it with help from teachers, they got used to it, accepted it, don’t have political hang ups about it either way, they don’t know any different because a couple of weeks at those ages is enough to make something feel natural, and done! No struggle at all for the vast majority of parents since then.
Whereas if in your home and school, Shuls and supermarkets, parents and teachers make a stink over having to wear a mask…. then wonder of wonders… so will kids! And kids make more obvious tantrums then adults (usually).
Even the parents here in my community who probably still won’t wear a mask if they were 6 inches away from someone with COVID-19, their kids have no problem wearing…Because that’s what all the other kids are doing.
Spot on, I have experienced the same with my kids. My 3 year old has no problem with masks, because she sees her parents and siblings taking it seriously.
2 and 3 year olds are not rational beings. There are certainly times when they will copy and there are other times they will throw a tantrum and there is nothing you can do about it other than remove them from the situation. That isn’t practical in a metal tube.
Yes, there are some obedient toddlers, but that’s not the nature of all toddlers. Just look at the meltdowns that led to so many being tossed off planes.
Besides, all of the schools in my area don’t have mask mandates for kids under 5 or 6, so they haven’t been trained to wear a mask.
First off, let me admit that I didn’t realize that in certain locations there was no school mask mandate under 6. Obviously, while the point I made is about kids who are accustomed to wearing masks (and comparing them to kids living in locations with mask mandates for toddlers); if, on the other hand the toddlers are not accustomed to wearing masks, it is obviously, like you said, much harder for those kids then for adults.
It’s also true that they are not rational and will from time to time throw a forever lasting tantrum. I have one obedient toddler, and one that takes after me …
That all being said, I’ll narrow my point to state that isn’t true that little kids will by definition have a harder time wearing masks, and that when trained, they will in fact almost always have a much easier time wearing masks then adults (for all the reasons I put in the previous comment).
The age of 2 was chosen because it’s simpler to enforce. Most airlines know if I child is older than 2 because they have their own seat. It’s unlikely scientific, but it’s practical because FAs aren’t forced to recheck birth certificates. Not saying it’s right or wrong, but I don’t believe it’s arbitrary.
And yet, nearly every other airline in the world has ages between 6 and 12 for mask mandates based on the birthdays they have in the manifest.
And plenty of under 2s have their own seats as it’s safer to do so. In fact I’d posit that it’s far more important for a child’s safety to be in a seat belt than to wear a mask.
Not arguing that it has to be this way, just trying to explain the potential logic. The manifest point is a good one and would be easy to enforce on most airlines, but open seating at Southwest (the largest domestic airline) would struggle to use the manifest.
Don’t disagree that masks are less necessary for children, but US airlines are super safe and have had 2 fatalities in the last decade, so I don’t think own seats aren’t that important either.
By the way, I have a 7, 5, and 1-year old, so I get the challenges and tradeoff. I’m nervous about getting our baby to wear a facemask for hours on flights this fall when she turns 2.
Always going to be more challenging for Southwest, but can always ask for the name.
It’s not about fatalities, it’s about turbulence. There are many turbulence injuries in the air.
Do you think your 2 year old will keep their mask on? Will you just avoid flying?
The fact that she has older siblings means that she wants to be and look like them, so I think it’ll be okay.
I love traveling, so we won’t stop, we’ll just have to normalize mask wearing beforehand.
Dan says he doesn’t want this post to turn into an anti-mask tirade (another person wrote that masks don’t prevent the spread of coronavirus). On the other hand the signatories to this letter to the CDC are anti-science, anti-mask, covid deniers. We have Marjorie Taylor Greene who believes Jewish people have space lasers. We have Rand Paul that has gone to an employee gym after being exposed to Covid (and being positive). We have Ted Cruz which has supported reopening his state which has led to a strain of coronavirus in Texas that is resistant to anti-bodies. These congressmen (and women) are the ones sowing doubt in the public’s mind to the detriment of public health. Should this (2 year old cutoff) be the focus of anyone’s efforts? They only want the CDC to state that this was a policy decision rather than a scientific one in an effort to discredit the CDC and further push denialism as a treatment for the pandemic. Dan should be more responsible as he has been throughout the pandemic to protect our communities. The ability to fly commercial requires that we all adhere to policy rules that both the government and the airlines have decided on. Taking off our shoes, submitting to pat downs, and having our nail clippers confiscated. This is another rule. 2-year old’s do not need to travel, if they can’t adhere to the rule leave them home with their grandparents, neighbors, family, friends.
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bravo!!!! bravo!!!!!!!
taylore greene debunked the whole laser story,the original piece didnt say that it was taken out of context.
I’m not into politics. I don’t care who signed it, I’d like everyone to reach out to their representatives to sign it as it doesn’t need to be a partisan issue.
Every other country in the world determined that the cutoff should be between 6-12 years old. There’s no reason the CDC can’t clarify why they selected 2.
Your assertion that 2 year olds don’t ever need to travel is asinine. I said that I haven’t traveled with my family since January 2020 as I don’t have a need to do so. However plenty of people need to travel for medical issues, for business reasons, for moving across the country or across oceans, etc. Saying they should stay with a neighbor is not always a practical solution, and all the more so during COVID times.
I’ve been proud to champion precautions where practical and have done so throughout the pandemic. My shul still has a mask mandate and I don’t have a problem with that, even though the majority of folks have been vaccinated. But this is one case where I take offense and will say it out loud.
Even if we’re not into politics, we will be impacted by the repercussions of politics.
These congresspeople are literally motivated by anything but benevolence and are using outrage over this to further a misinformation campaign across the country which will extend the timeline of this pandemic.
Leaving a 2 year old at home with neighbors is not practical during COVID times, but bringing a 2 year old on a flight is practical during COVID times? There are rare occasions (not plenty) where a 2 year old has to travel for medical issues or business issues. I wholeheartedly disagree with this but believe in Dan’s positive intent.
Just had a DD reader with a job that got relocated from Hawaii to the mainland. He wanted to know what to do with his toddler as he can’t count on them keeping a mask on.
What would you tell him? Just leave his toddler in Hawaii with a neighbor until COVID is over?
The rule is absurd. I can buckle a toddler into a carseat so they remain in it, so that’s a logical rule. I can’t glue a mask onto my toddler’s face and mandating that a 2 year old do something is just absurd.
This should be common sense!
And yet we’ve seen these families and their toddler or special needs kids getting tossed off flights and even banned for life. It’s enough already 🙁
I have 100% been making this argument since rule was first made but unfortunately not getting anywhere. I wrote to both our senators (only one of them signed the letter) and got only form letter responses. I have posted on their fb pages and nothing. When I speak to people about it they seem irrational like anything beyond the “book of what makes you holier than thou in Covid” just can’t compute. I have been asked why this doesn’t apply to two-year olds buckling belts in car seats. What parent of a two year old has not had a normally happy 2-year old about of the blue throw a fit about buckling the belt of their car seat? Difference is you can respond differently when it is just you and your child in a familiar situation.
As Dan has pointed out multiple times, kid’s are not at risk from covid, nor do they infect others. So what in the world is the point in masking them up for no good reason ??? How is masking children at the age that they can’t use a bathroom “pro science”?
Thank you to everyone involved in this! Let’s get more congressmen and women involved!
The only science used is political science
The thing I’m surprised about, that I’ve never heard anyone discuss, is aren’t masks a choking hazard? It’s the kind of product that would generally come with a label on the package warning not to be used by anyone under 3.
TPG has an article saying that airlines and their FA, along with passengers want the mask mandate extended.
Dan, at least you present facts and perspectives from all avenues. TPG has become so politicized with so many of their articles of global warming, LGBTQ travel, *their* perspective of covid.
Done!
Dear Senator Singer,
I’m sure you’ve read the countless stories of children and families being kicked off of flights because of a child who was not able to keep their mask on.
If we simply raised the minimum age a bit for the mask requirement we would avoid this issue, all the heartache and trauma for the families, and bad press it causes for the airlines.
Bethany Mandel started a petition to have the minimum age upped.
If you can take a look, read about this issue and consider supporting this cause, I would greatly appreciate it:
https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e8e340f2-4164-46b6-9f09-cdd89801a9db/letter-to-cdc-on-chidlren-face-mask-guidance—final-signed-4.22.21.pdf
Thank you for listening,
xxx xxxxx
Thank you. I used your letter (replacing the names) for my representatives.
Happy to hear! GS
I LOVE the way the right wing media have taught their marks the word “arbitrary.” Every rule is now “arbitrary.” People can vote at age 18–not even one day earlier. Arbitrary! People can drink at 21. Who decided that? Not 20 years 11 months and 29 days. Arbitrary! A Bris is at 8 days. Not 7? Arbitrary!
Even funnier from Orthodox Jews, who have half a dozen “arbitrary” determinations of when Shabbos is over. Ashkenaz can’t eat rice on Pesach? Arbitrary!
Masks at 2 is arbitrary? If they made the limit at 3, the right wing media would tell you that that is “arbitrary” too.
1)Two year olds are not at risk from covid.
2)Two year olds do not spread covid to others.
3)It’s ABSURD and practically impossible to force a two year old to wear a mask for more then two minutes. Any thoughts ?
1) I don’t really value the epidemiological conclusions from people who are not expert epidemiologists.
2) See 1) above
3) Person who responded to my comments about “arbitrary” didn’t really address my comments. Person says you can’t make a 2 year old wear a mask. When can you make a child wear a mask? Not at 370 days? 371 days? 380 days? Again, the decision is “arbitrary.” And also, of course, not every child becomes willing to wear a mask at the same age.
4) Like masks, poster says “two year olds are not at risk from covid.” When do they become “at risk”? 371 days? 380 days? 400 days? Yet again, another “arbitrary” decision, that does not apply to all children.
5) See 4) above for “two year olds do not spread covid to others.”
Happy that you’re second guessing my “epidemiological conclusions”about the risk children are from getting covid. We are already a year in a half into this pandemic, can you please show me the data of children at risk to covid ?
Yes, I can. Took about 10 seconds: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/children/symptoms.html
Children under 1 are at risk: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-in-babies-and-children/art-20484405
Please define the term “at risk” if one in a million children die or get severely sick is that considered “at risk” to the point where preventive measures are necessary and should be mandated ?
Because prior to covid there was something called the flu which killed way more children by far, and I don’t recall anyone suggesting let alone mandating mask wearing!
A airline kicking off a family for disobedience, would’ve been an National scandal.
Gee, I hate to contradict or bring facts to an esteemed and renowned epidemiologist like yourself, but 188 children died from influenza last season. Last year, 133 died from Covid. However, don’t forget that over ONE MILLION children have contracted Covid, and we don’t know what the long term effects are of Covid. The ling term effects of influenza are nil.
So you’re arguing that 133 is greater then 188?
No. But YOU are saying that 188 is “way more” than 133.
Btw, due to the spread of covid, the flu last season was nothing compared to any other year, for example in 2019, 266 children ages 0-4 died from the flu.
Well, you give it a real right wing spin. MASKS are the reason that influenza was so diminished this season. You want to believe that Covid protected children from influenza?
Here’s the CDC’s own conclusion, on the effects face masks have on the spread of influenza, based on scientific research going back to 1946 (before this issue was politicized). https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
“ Disposable medical masks (also known as surgical masks) are loose-fitting devices that were designed to be worn by medical personnel to protect accidental contamination of patient wounds, and to protect the wearer against splashes or sprays of bodily fluids (36). There is limited evidence for their effectiveness in preventing influenza virus transmission either when worn by the infected person for source control or when worn by uninfected persons to reduce exposure. Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza”
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
So let me get this straight: YOU are the guy who boasts that influenza has almost vanished this year due to MASKS, but on the other hand, you’re AGAINST wearing masks because they’re not effective. Got it.
Reading comprehension dude! The influenza didn’t vanish due to masks, as the research collected by the CDC since the Spanish flu proves that masks have little to no effect whatsoever on the spread of influenza.
You’re wrong yet again. CDC says masks helped cut down on influenza rate.
“In the United States, influenza virus circulation declined sharply within 2 weeks of the COVID-19 emergency declaration and widespread implementation of community mitigation measures, including school closures, social distancing, and mask wearing, although the exact timing varied by location (2).”
“https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6937a6.htm
What?? Are you kidding me??? Influenza declined sharply when the entire country locked themselves up in their houses in mid March, in the time the CDC, Fauci, the Surgeon general, and all other of our “esteemed experts” were yelling that masks should only be worn by health care providers, in an health care setting, (“Masks don’t work leave it for the health care providers”) masks were mainstreamed in may-June when influenza was long gone!
How are people so confident that two year olds don’t spread or catch covid? That’s just not true… Plenty of children two and under have gotten seriously sick, and some have died. Yes, most are asymptomatic, but is it worth that risk?
And saying it’s so absurd for two year olds to wear masks is absurd. Get them a fun animal mask and they’ll keep it on for hours. If you as the parent don’t complain about it, neither will they.
Would like to know what you consider “at risk” from catching covid? If the covid death rate among children is lower then the death rate of, say the yearly flu, is it a “risk worth taking” ? Prior to covid no body made their 2 yr. olds wear a mask to protect them from the flu?
Do you make your two year old get the flu shot every year? I’m sure you do. Why wouldn’t I want to protect my children the best I can?
But the flu shot only reduces the chances of infection by maximum 50% why not wear masks on top of that?
We’re in a covid pandemic, not a flu pandemic. The chances of catching covid are way higher. And the chances of getting sock are way higher. You pull stats out of your tuchus. But if you wanted to wear a mask to prevent getting the flu, by all means, I won’t judge.
Yet The non-pandemic flu, fatality rate among children is higher then the “pandemic” fatality rate. (Again talking specifically among children)
FACT: If in 2019 An airline kicked off an entire family off a flight, because one member (at the age of 2 yrs.) took off they’re masks (for the flu) in between bites, that airline would’ve been sued into bankruptcy by every single civil liberties organization.
And the stewardesses and staff involved would’ve been immediately escorted into a mental hospital.
The infection fatality rate (IFR) measures how many infected people die from a disease. The majority of scientific papers report an IFR of 0.68% for COVID-19, meaning that 68 people out of 10,000 people who are infected will die. The fatality rate from COVID-19 is noticeably higher than that of the flu, which has an IFR of 0.1% in the U.S.
The CDC’s current best estimate for IFR of those under 18 is 20 per 1,000,000 or 0.2 out of 10,000.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html
Thanks Dan for helping out! But I believe this is a liberal estimate, since there are sooo many cases that aren’t detected since they’re majority asymptomatic, especially among children.
The level of panic the government together with the media stirred up is just unbelievable, it’s just plain propaganda. A recent NYT poll found that 41% of Democrats believed the covid hospitalization rate is non less then 50%!!!!
How in the world can these propagandists be so effective in scaring the masses ?? How can the masses be so stupid and naive and believe such crap ?? We live in an open society where everyone is open to high speed internet, such a basic data point, takes 10 seconds to research, and yet such a large number of the population overrates it by 50 times!!
Yes parents: there is so little risk that your child will die, don’t bother to take precautions. Leave him under a tree in a thunderstorm. Don’t cover electrical outlets. Leave those nice looking detergent pods out. And please, please, for the sake of your walls, do NOT attach dressers to the wall!
No parents: for the sake of a virus that maybe kills a few in a million, (and even those are ones with pre existing conditions) close all schools and deny you’re children a education, or to interact with they’re friends. Or force them to sit through a full day of class wearing a dumb face mask that has little to impact what so ever on the spread of a virus. It’s pure child abuse!
Just wondering are you a parent?
Yes, my two year old twins wear their masks to day care every day and whenever they play with other kids and don’t mind one bit.
Wow. Just wow.
We have been separated from our families because this stupid rule! How is it fair that we who are healthy and fully vaccinated can not travel Because one person in the plane MIGHT be of high risk? Shouldn’t this person be the one staying home taking care of their own health instead? I’m all for taking care of each other but this has become too much! There is so much more tthat can kill us and here we are freaking out about a little toddler not wearing a mask for hours in an airport+airplane. But we can go grocery shopping without a mask where we touch everything. That is just a bunch of BS from the CDC who probably just hate toddlers in an airplane, they are afraid of loosing power at this point. Now that the vaccine it’s here, let everybody take their own risk! If you are afraid, stay home, the percentage of high risk passengers is probably way lower than the percentage of healthy toddlers who should be allowed to fly without a mask. This is making airlines loose money since families can’t fly with their kids, this is also making families suffer because we are separated from loved ones. What’s better? A family of 4 who pays 4 airline tickets + food+hotel+ fun activities 2-3 times of year or one high risk passenger who probably just doing a business trip? just like I avoid driving when it rains outside at night because of the people who doesn’t know how to drive in the dark and under rain freaks me out, hight risk unvaccinated people should also stay home if they are scared of a toddler not wearing a freaking mask for hours in an airplane.