Mask Exemption for Pre-K through 12th Grade
Feel free to copy and amend for your child’s school situation.
Dear School Nurse,
My child requires an exemption for wearing masks in school to prevent the spread of an illness identified as COVID-19. We have determined, through careful consideration of the weight of medical research on the COVID-19 illness, respiratory viral infection in general, and mask wearing, that our child’s risks from wearing a mask for extended periods far exceed any risk posed by COVID-19.
A doctor’s signature in support of this exemption cannot be provided as my child is currently healthy. A doctor would be understandably hesitant to sign such a document for a healthy child to exempt them from an unnecessary medical intervention. In other locales, doctors have been threatened with censure or even lost their licenses for signing too many exemption forms to protect the health of their patients due to the politicization of public health.
The accepted statistic for the risk of death for a child between the ages of 0 and 19 years from COVID-19 is 0.0003%. The risk for a child to die of the seasonal flu is higher. Oxford University maintains a COVID-19 risk assessment calculator, which aligns with this scientific record. Since there is statistically no risk of death from COVID-19 for children, the calculator tool only assesses ages above 18 years.
My child has no pre-existing morbidities and has no reason to be anxious about contracting the flu or coronavirus. He is not at risk of catching or spreading the Sars-CoV-2 virus. The cumulative weight of science suggests, and the CDC has confirmed, that his chance of already having developed antibodies to this novel virus is far in excess of 80%. In the study cited, the CDC expects a 0.9–1.9% increase in these statistics each month. Thus, it is expected that the vast majority of students in this school district have already been exposed and have developed levels of resistance.
If the school district finds that this parent’s concerns about the lack of risk of contracting a clinical case of COVID-19 are unfounded due to the research the district and its Chief Medical Officer have collected, conducted, or are applying, then the school district must affirm, in writing, that the requirement of the medical intervention of masking does not contribute to an elevated risk that exceeds the risk of COVID-19 for the following conditions that are known to be enhanced by the wearing of a mask: This kind of risk-benefit calculation is essential to the mandate of any medical intervention.
Affirm masking will not contribute to an elevated risk of the following conditions:
- Immune suppression and other physiological effects caused by hypoxia and hypercapnia, a universal condition produced by all types of masks and respirators,
- Oral thrush, oral candidiasis
- RSV, respiratory syncytial virus
- Bacterial pneumonia
- Bacterial meningitis
- Dental complications (increased incidences of tooth decay and gum disease)
- Increased severity of Sars-CoV-2 infection and possible brain infection via olfactory nerves
- Increased incidence and severity of acne vulgaris
Additionally, the school district must be sensitive to the disruption in the development, exercise, and mastery of communication skills that the imposition of mask wearing creates in a learning environment. Test scores for elementary students in Philadelphia, as elsewhere, have slipped by a full grade during the period of COVID disruptions. Psychological impacts must also be weighed and the risk quantified.
Because statistically significant evidence for the use of masks for protection against respiratory viral infection has never been established, a requirement to wear such an intervention must be voluntary. A medical intervention that cannot demonstrate a benefit commensurate with its risks cannot be ethically or legally mandated.
There are simple and inexpensive respirators that statistically prevent infection from respiratory viruses. The 3M P100 is just such a mask,” although technically a respirator. These, like all occupational masks, must be fitted by an OSHA-trained specialist to be considered functional. Regulatory agencies do not recommend anyone wear a mask or respirator for more than two hours because of clearly established risks to health, some of which are outlined in the footnotes provided.
Signed,
A Concerned Parent
For Philadelphia School District Parents consider using this form (PSD Mask Exemption) and sending in the above as a supporting document. It has proven to work during last years Spring’s mask mandate.
1 Age-stratified infection fatality rate of COVID-19 in the non-elderly population. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36341800/
2 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e3.htm#F1_down
3 Shehade H et al. Cutting edge: Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1 negatively regulates Th1 function. J Immunol 2015, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26179900/
Westendorf AM et al. Hypoxia enhances immunosuppression by inhibiting CD4+ effector T cell function and promoting Treg activity. Cell Physiol Biochem 2017, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28278498/
Sceneay J et al. Hypoxia-driven immunosuppression contributes to the pre-metastatic niche. Oncoimmunology 2013, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23482904/
4 Baig AM et al. Evidence of the COVID-19 virus targeting the CNS: Tissue distribution, host-virus interaction, and proposed neurotropic mechanisms. ACS Chem Neurosci 2020,https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32167747/
Wu Y et al. Nervous system involvement after infection with COVID-19 and other coronaviruses. Brain Behavior, and Immunity, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32240762/
Perlman S et al. Spread of a neurotropic murine coronavirus into the CNS via the trigeminal and olfactory nerves. Virology 1989;https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2543129/
5 Lack of correlation between school mask mandates and pediatric COVID-19 cases in a large cohort, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36183909/
Effectiveness of Adding a Mask Recommendation to Other Public Health Measures to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Danish Mask Wearers, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33205991/