Masks essentially do nothing at this point in the pandemic. There is little science to recommend their use, and what there is is low quality.

They do have a tremendous value to Covid neurotics as a quasi-religious totem to ward off evil spirits. Unfortunately, Covid neurotics love to force others to participate in their unscientific rituals. Even more unfortunately they seem to have no regard to the damage this does to children, not to mention society at large.

East Palo Alto has very high COVID rates right now, and something like 10% of residents have had COVID in the last month. 46 people have died of COVID in EPA, a shockingly high number in a community that does not have nursing homes or care facilities with high death rates. Last week, I was unable to obtain ANY over the counter COVID tests at Ravenswood Clinic, Target, the YMCA, or the testing site in the Ravenswood Shopping Center.

Kids most likely will not be adversely affected by COVID, but will be bringing it home to overcrowded houses where elders and other at risk people will be exposed. Teachers, administrators, and support staff are all at risk of long COVID, hospitalization, or death if they get COVID.

I fully understand why Board Members wanted to keep the mask mandate in place.

Mark, in what source do you find the 46 deaths in EPA from COVID and the 3,000 people infected (10% of about 30,000 residents) with COVID over the past month?

Does the source (or sources) provide comparable rates of current infection and death in neighboring zip codes?