News
Parents voice concerns about masks
Two groups of parents came out for and against the requirement that children wear masks in school at Monday night’s meeting of Sheridan County School District 2 trustees.
One group of parents said the masks are harmful for their elementary-age children and asked for some kind of “compromise” to the requirement that masks be worn in school, while another group of parents said they favored the masks.
One parent said he “strongly supported” the decision to mandate the masks.
Also speaking during the meet was Sheridan County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hunter, who said wearing the masks is the right thing to do.
A pediatrician who appeared before trustees said studies refute many of the concerns associated with masks, such as wearing a mask will impair a child’s breathing and a mask will impair a child’s immune system development. He said the benefit of wearing a mask outweighs any risks.
Bill Sweem
October 6, 2020 at 11:17 am
This is hilarious in the saddest of ways. First of all, a PCP should have no influence on whether children should wear a mask. I doubt he’s ever treated someone with COVID-19 and if he has, it’s been a small handful. WY has fewer than 40 hospitalizations due to Covid. Where I live, a single hospital has as many. You people in WY seem to WANT to be involved in the hysteria that’s being experienced around the country so you too can tell people how “responsible” you’re being and how “seriously” you’re taking the virus. Let me tell you nobody else is taking you seriously because YOU DO NOT HAVE A COVID PROBLEM IN WYOMING!!!! Stop pretending you do. It’s laughable. I thought Wyoming was one of the few places where people hadn’t lost their mind but now I think they want to be like Colorado.
Ezra Petersen
October 6, 2020 at 1:50 pm
Bill you are right, a primary care provider should not have any say on these covid restrictions. And he does not in this case, this mandate for masks at schools came from the state level via Alexia who is an epidemiologist. It would not matter if Ian Hunter disagreed it’s not his call. Everyone has to weigh in to justify their job, this is just all talk with no purpose. The school board nor the county level health officer can reverse this mandate, they would have to seek an exemption at the state level and let us be real, that exception would not be approved. There is nothing wrong with taking these precautions a mask is a small inconvenience if we can keep the state open for business. All these people squawking to the school board is like complaining to a cop that the speed limit should be higher, it’s not their call.
Bill Sweem
October 7, 2020 at 3:58 pm
You are incorrect on every level. If people stop “squawking”, government will do as it pleases. In fact, all that “squawking” is called voicing your disapproval and the freedom to do so is what this country was founded on. As for the masks, why hasn’t South Dakota gone bankrupt? They should have by now right? No masks…all of their businesses should be shut down right? Nothing is happening in Wyoming. Never has. Never will. Even without masks. Stop kidding yourself
Lyndsey Calentine
October 8, 2020 at 6:30 am
It’s actually not a mandate for children to wear masks in school. The quarantine rules changed. When the school year started masks were only required part of the time. School district 2 chose to change that and make kids wear them all day. Other districts did not make changes and the children can still be in their classrooms without masks. That’s why parents were “sqwaking”, we put our kids in school knowing it would be a certain way and then the rules were changed. Of course they were only changed after our children started school, as to not affect the numbers and budget for next year. It’s also funny that Dr Hunter is so adamant that masks work and yet has been seen in several local businesses without a mask.