Philadelphia school board gets earful on ‘out of touch’ masking policy
Coverage from Thursday Evenings Philadelphia School Board Meeting on WHYY. PA Chapter President Vince Feldman, Board member Diane Soucy and Founder of ADLC and member Lynn Landis and also founder of Health Alert Philly presented to the board.
Pennsylvania Chapter President, Vince Feldman’s statement is below.
My name is Vince Feldman and I have two children in District Schools, I am president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Children’s Health Defense and our membership strongly oppose the continued extraordinary policy of masking our children. The announcement that Pre-K children will be masked for the school year stands out as cruel and unnecessary. Outside of the US you will find no policy that comes close to what is being forced on our youngest children. And it is being pushed without supportive evidence that can demonstrate this policy is wise or safe.
The dangers of impeding the breathing and communications of our children is well documented. Where is the absolutely necessary risk benefit analysis?
Masks, hide, conceal and distort human faces. They condition fear and stress. They interfere with talking and disrupt communications. They prevent our quintessential human feature from showing itself in full. Even if they were effective in reducing respiratory infections could we warrant their use?
These effects profoundly impact our most impressionable citizens. The clear scientific documentation that masking leads to declines in cognitive child development is not disputed. Why are these facts ignored at the Health Dept. and School District? Why conceal that children are at the least risk of infection or a resulting illness from a Covid19?
Has the School District reported any medically significant cases of Covid19? Will you continue to announce meaningless “case” rates that are primarily asymptomatic, mild colds or false positives.
This city has seen an explosion in childhood mental health cases that are overwhelming our children’s hospitals and are requiring parents with means to find psychiatric care hundreds of miles from their homes.
That is the real emergency and reality here in Philadelphia demonstrating how imperative it is that our appointed and elected officials snap out of group-think. You must act in the best interests of your constituents using the weight of science and not cherry picked data or following very questionable guidance from compromised federal agencies.