Good morning, school board members and Superintendent Jackson. I’m writing this morning to express my profound disappointment in and frustration with your recent decision to end Chatham County Schools’ mask mandate in March. As the parent of a 6th-grader and a 4th-grader and the husband of a school employee, I live in one of many households you are putting at increased risk.
There is still time to reverse this decision, which was made against the advice of epidemiologists but in evident lockstep with a scientifically illiterate parent group armed with little more than folk wisdom and anti-mask superstition. In addition, the decision to end the mask mandate was made in anticipation of lower community transmission numbers rather than with those numbers achieved. That’s a reckless conditional.
It’s also powerfully shortsighted during the ongoing teacher and staff shortage that has rocked schools nationwide, our own system included. Decisions that risk the wellbeing of the school community will drive away more teachers and staff. I get it: why stay in an increasingly dangerous work environment where wages have been stagnant for years and your health can be put at risk by the whims of a small board of local politicians? Show your teachers and staff that you value them by consistently acting with their safety in mind.
As for me, COVID-19 is not a hypothetical or exaggerated risk, regardless of the variant. Thanks to my current leukemia therapy, my immune system crashes every few weeks. Without regular immune booster shots, I have zero protection. This renders my Pfizer vaccine less effective than it should be. Let’s be clear: I’m not seeking pity. My health is what it is, and I live a very good life. I’ve adjusted my expectations to what is possible during a pandemic, and I thrive within them (it’s called being an adult). As I’ve learned from my years with chronic cancer, I’m far from alone, and people in similar situations are especially at risk when the entitlement, ignorance and baffling deficit of patience and compassion of anti-masker groups sway public policy.
Be patient. Be compassionate. Be scientific. Reverse your decision, please, and do the absolute bare minimum to protect the greater community.
Corbie Hill
Pittsboro