CHARLESton — Even as the Omicron COVID-19 version sends hospitalizations toward record highs, Republican lawmakers in the West Virginia House of Delegates want to end the mask and testing mandates in public schools.
The House Education Committee on Wednesday afternoon adopted House Bill 4071, called the Public School Health Rights Act, in an 18-6 vote. The bill now goes to the House Judiciary Committee.
HB 4071 will prohibit schools, educational institutions and elected or appointed officials from imposing a mask mandate for COVID-19 on students or school staff. The bill prohibits mandatory COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic students and staff.
The bill also prohibits the quarantine or isolation of students and staff, unless they have a confirmed positive COVID-19 test.
The bill does not prevent parents from sending their students to school masked, nor does it prevent anyone from wearing a mask. But it allows students and parents to take legal action against schools violating the provisions of the bill.
“As the main sponsor of this bill, as the father of four children, as a relative of the instructors, administrators and school personnel, I have heard overwhelmingly from my district and from all interested parties,” said Dale Jordan Menor. , R said - Raleigh. "I think it's time to empower parents, empower individuals to make these decisions."
Democratic committee members tried to offer two amendments to the bill to exempt its provisions during an active state of emergency and to override mask mandates and other requirements for county residents to slow the spread of the virus. given the option of a special election. Both the amendments failed on partisan grounds.
"I think this bill goes a long way," said Dale John Doyle, D-Jefferson. "This bill, I think, makes a lot of decisions that should be taken away from those officials in particular by public health officials and I think it threatens not only the structure of our society, but our physical health." It's also a danger."
"I'm a little worried," said Dale Cody Thompson, D-Randolph, a high school teacher. “You want to talk about freedom and letting parents decide whether or not their kids want to wear masks, but what about the freedom to send my child to school in a safe environment where They cannot catch COVID if the school is using proper protocols. masking? If the spread isn't so bad, counties have ended their mask mandates. ,
Dale Heather Tully, R-Nicholas, said parents concerned about the elimination of mask imperatives, testing and stricter quarantine rules have other options available to them.
“We have homebound instruction. We have West Virginia Virtual School. We have home school options. Parents can elect to send the child to a private school or a charter school if we ever get one up and running eventually,” Tully said. "Therefore, there are other options for pursuing education outside the public school system if a parent would be so upset about the lack of mask mandates or quarantine guidelines."
According to the Department of Education, 35 counties require face masks in schools. The other 12 school health and human resources county alert systems base their masking decisions on color-coded maps that measure infection rates and percentages of positivity in each county. The other seven counties have other criteria for deciding whether to wear masks to students and staff, while Pocahontas County makes masking optional.
As of Wednesday, 35 counties were red for the highest rates of COVID-19, with 11 counties listed as orange - the second worst-hit category - followed by seven counties listed as gold . Only Jackson County was yellow and Tucker County was green.
At the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, officials from the Department of Education and state education boards issued a school recovery and guidance plan with no statewide mandate for face masks in classrooms by students, teachers and staff, separating it from each other. Separate counties were left up. To make decisions regarding the mask mandate. The decision to remain open or to go for distance learning during instances of high virus transmission is also left to county superintendents and county health departments.
COVID-19 has a more adverse health impact on older people and those with multiple comorbidities. But young adults, teens and young children can still get COVID-19. According to Harvard Medical School, many children either show no symptoms or show mild symptoms. Serious complications are less frequent. According to the Centers for Disease Control, only 862 children aged 18 or younger have died from COVID so far.
According to the DHHR, only 46.8% of residents between the ages of 16–20 are fully vaccinated, 38.6% of children aged 12–15 are fully vaccinated, and those between the ages of 5–11. 11.36% of children between the ages of 18 are fully vaccinated. Vaccinated.
While boosters are available for people over the age of 18, only children ages 12-17 can get a Pfizer COVID-19 booster. The only data available for booster doses in the state is for children and young adults aged 16-20 years. Only 6.6% of them have received a booster shot. According to hospitalization data, there were 15 pediatric confirmed cases, with one case in an intensive care unit bed.
In an update last week, the CDC said cloth masks offer minimal protection against COVID-19, advising the public to obtain N95 and KN95 respirator masks. President Joe Biden announced this week that his administration will distribute 400 million free N95 masks to pharmacies and community health centers in the coming days.