Get ready for school mask and vaccine wars into this Fall.
A giant chasm has already unfolded: On one side lies an alliance of powerful leftist interests comprised of corporate media, teachers’ unions, Democratic politicians, plus Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health bureaucrats.
On the other side, there are millions of fed-up parents and children, along with a smattering of medical experts brave enough to stand up for science and sanity.
Even in the most liberal of jurisdictions like California, the high fallout of keeping schools closed last year compels a near-universal call for in-person instruction this coming school year.
After the success of open school models -- all schools in Florida, and private schools in lockdown locales like Chicago -- the lockdown radicals can simply no longer justify forcing children into another year of remote learning.
But, in many of these blue states, like California, schools plan to require universal masking for children, despite the dearth of medical evidence justifying such restrictions. In addition, many high schools and colleges, like Notre Dame, will require vaccinations for teens and young adults, even though clear data points to their near-invulnerability to dire effects of COVID-19.
These draconian measures set up for a firestorm confrontation, one that will surely elicit fierce pushback from exhausted, protective parents who are now fully awakened to the credibility problems of the so-called experts of the ruling class.
Moreover, this conflict will engage many people who were formerly inactive in political matters, and perhaps even previously unfavorable toward the populist nationalist movement.
First, some brief points on the science.
Regarding masking, even doctors who support masking concede the lack of supporting data. Researchers led by Dr. Angela Rasmussen of the Columbia University School of Health observed to the New England Journal of Medicine that, “There is insufficient evidence to support the claim that masks reduce the infectious dose of SARS-CoV-2 and the severity of Covid-19.”
And even if masking were effective for adults, it would be an unnecessary encumbrance upon children, for whom the regular seasonal flu presents a more material statistical threat than this virus.
In addition, the adverse fallout of masking children may be significant.
A European study, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that after only 3 minutes of mask wearing, children registered levels of carbon dioxide inhaled exceeded acceptable limits by a factor of 6, presenting risks of hypercapnia for masked children.
Likewise, the psychological toll of masking children can produce even more harm than the physical issues, one reason why esteemed physicians like Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford wrote that “the benefits of masking children are small to none; the costs are much higher.”
Regarding the vaccines, forcing an experimental treatment upon people who are at infinitesimally small risk to the disease violates every precept of medical ethics. Recent robust data from the UK, for example, details that among schoolchildren who are known to have contracted COVID, out of 469,982 infected children and young adults, the total survival rate was 99.995%.
Despite the clear scientific evidence, the fearmongering cabal of conflicted, selfish interest groups continues to push harsh mitigation efforts upon children. Just last week, the CDC issued guidance for schools that includes masking for all non-vaccinated students, which right now includes universally anyone under the age of 12 and continuing cruel social distancing requirements for young children.
Given its past record of conflicts regarding school rules, no one should heed the advice of the CDC but, sadly, their wrongheaded scare tactics will provide cover to many petty school tyrants, especially the leaders of teachers’ unions.
Those same school unions, in February of 2021, pressured the CDC heavily behind the scenes to maintain harsh recommendations regarding reopening schools.
Newly released government emails unveiled through a Freedom of Information Act request detail a flurry of emails and conversations among officials of the CDC, the White House, and top teachers’ unions who wanted to dampen any calls for aggressive school reopening.
Per the New York Post, the “lobbying paid off. In at least two instances, language ‘suggestions’ offered by the union were adopted nearly verbatim into the final text of the CDC document.”
Regardless of CDC edicts, parents demand in-person instruction and grow frustrated with unscientific and psychologically cruel restrictions upon children.
At the end of the last school year, Gallup found that a stunning 79% of parents want in-person schooling. Polling also points to significant reluctance from parents on the vaccine for their children.
For now, eligible 12-16 year old children, only 30 percent of their parents want the treatment now. One quarter of these parents report they will never vaccinate, another one quarter want to wait-and-see, and 18% say they will only vaccinate if forced by their schools.
So, a major showdown looms. Corporate media cannot discern it because they live within bubbles of near-ubiquitous masking and vaccine enthusiasm.
But, as the pandemic winds down in America and schools in many locations refuse to adjust and emancipate children from harsh restrictions, a serious confrontation beckons, one that may well finally provide an opening for the America First movement to welcome heretofore seemingly unreachable credentialed suburban women.
Buckle up for some interesting times ahead.
Steve Cortes, a former Trump presidential advisor, commentator, and financial expert, co-hosts "Cortes & Pellegrino" on Newsmax.
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