October 25, 2021 by Carol Britton Meyer
An in-person mask mandate lawsuit hearing involving some Hingham parents is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 2 p.m. at the Hampden County Superior Courthouse, 50 State St., Springfield.
As background, Hingham parents are part of five lawsuits against the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education and the Hingham Public Schools and other school districts that challenge state and local mask mandates.
The non-profit Children's Health Rights of Massachusetts is also a plaintiff in three of the lawsuits, including the one against the Hingham and other school districts, because some members of that organization are parents with children enrolled in public school districts that are being sued.
CHRM announced this week that Judge David Hodge requested that the hearing be in person. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a limited number of people will be admitted into the courtroom. A mask mandate is in place for anyone entering the building unless an individual requests and is granted an accommodation. A gathering of supporters is expected to take place in front of the courthouse.
The lawsuit centers around Commissioner of Education Jeffrey Riley's issuance of a public school mask mandate for the entire state last August requiring all K-12 public schools students ages five and older, educators, staff, and visitors to wear face masks until at least Oct. 1 in order to allow time to increase the vaccination rate in school buildings. Riley recently extended that deadline until Nov. 1 or later.
Riley's initial policy called for allowing middle and high schools to potentially lift the mask mandate for vaccinated students and staff only after Oct. 1 if they reached a certain vaccination threshold – that at least 80 percent of students and staff, combined, in a school building are vaccinated.
Robert Fojo, the attorney for the five lawsuits, explained earlier to the Hingham Anchor the reason behind the lawsuits. "The Department of Elementary & Secondary Education and school districts don't have the statutory authority to pass broad health measures like these," he said, noting that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's existing statutes and rules "don't provide for a broad mask mandate in response to coronavirus."
Fojo, a New Hampshire lawyer, who also practices in Massachusetts, is also representing parents in his own state in similar lawsuits challenging school district mask mandates.
"A favorable outcome -- meaning if DESE loses the lawsuit -- would invalidate DESE's mask mandate," Fojo said earlier. "We would then try to use this decision to force the school districts involved in the lawsuits to rescind their mandates as well."
There is plenty of evidence that masks do not work and that children are forced to comply to illegal mandates.
Your assertion is false. There is an abundance of data demonstrating that masks are an effective means of reducing transmission. Here are just a few quick examples of published, peer-reviewed, scientific papers that conclude that masks are efficacious in preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2:
Chu et al. Physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection to prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet (2020)
MacIntyre et al. A rapid systematic review of the efficacy of face masks and respirators against coronaviruses and other respiratory transmissible viruses for the community, healthcare workers and sick patients. International Journal of Nursing Studies (2020).
Howard et al. Face Masks Against COVID-19: An Evidence Review. Proceedings National Academy Sciences (2020).
Matuschek et al. Face masks: benefits and risks during the COVID-19 crisis. Eur J Med Res. 2020 Aug 12;25(1):32.
If you have actual data to back up your assertion, by all means, share it. Otherwise, please, stop spreading what can only be described dangerous misinformation.
Let’s let the courts decide what is legal or illegal. There is plenty of fact based evidence that suggests masks do work (article in Washington Post 9/1/21 for example). Are they the only method to prevent spread, no. Reducing spread requires a layered approach, vaccinations, ventilation, social distancing and lastly masks. We can not definitively say that our children aren’t at risk for Covid. There have been hundreds of children who have died as a result of the disease. Do YOU want to be the parent of a child who dies as a result of a relaxed approach to preventing the spread of Covid? Until the vaccine is available to all children and we see vaccination rates where the scientists feel it is safe should we think about eliminating one of the four layers of prevention that we have.
There is a good article in The Boston Globe about the politics surrounding mask mandates. Those who oppose it are in the minority. The majority of parents support it and understand the science.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/02/metro/behind-states-school-masking-policy-collision-science-politics/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results
Let’s let the courts decide what is legal or illegal. There is plenty of fact based evidence that suggests masks do work (Washington Post 9/. Are they the only method to prevent spread, no. Reducing spread requires a layered approach, vaccinations, ventilation, social distancing and lastly masks. We can not definitively say that our children aren’t at risk for Covid. There have been hundreds of children who have died as a result of the disease. Do YOU want to be the parent of a child who dies as a result of a relaxed approach to preventing the spread of Covid? Until the vaccine is available to all children and we see vaccination rates where the scientists feel it is safe should we think about eliminating one of the four layers of prevention that we have.
There is a good article in The Boston Globe about the politics surrounding mask mandates. Those who oppose it are in the minority. The majority of parents support it and understand the science.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/02/metro/behind-states-school-masking-policy-collision-science-politics/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results
Let’s let the courts decide what is legal or illegal. There is plenty of fact based evidence that suggests masks do work (Washington Post 9/1/21). Are they the only method to prevent spread, no. Reducing spread requires a layered approach, vaccinations, ventilation, social distancing and lastly masks. We can not definitively say that our children aren’t at risk for Covid. There have been hundreds of children who have died as a result of the disease. Do YOU want to be the parent of a child who dies as a result of a relaxed approach to preventing the spread of Covid? Until the vaccine is available to all children and we see vaccination rates where the scientists feel it is safe should we think about eliminating one of the four layers of prevention that we have.
There is a good article in The Boston Globe about the politics surrounding mask mandates. Those who oppose it are in the minority. The majority of parents support it and understand the science.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/02/metro/behind-states-school-masking-policy-collision-science-politics/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results
Let’s let the courts decide what is legal or illegal.
There is plenty of fact based evidence that suggests masks do work (Washington Post 9/1/21). Are they the only method to prevent spread, no. Reducing spread requires a layered approach, vaccinations, ventilation, social distancing and lastly masks. We can not definitively say that our children aren’t at risk for Covid. There have been hundreds of children who have died as a result of the disease. Do YOU want to be the parent of a child who dies as a result of a relaxed approach to preventing the spread of Covid? Until the vaccine is available to all children and we see vaccination rates where the scientists feel it is safe should we think about eliminating one of the four layers of prevention that we have.
There is a good article in The Boston Globe (10/2/21)about the politics surrounding mask mandates. Those who oppose it are in the minority. The majority of parents support it and understand the science.
Also before anyone starts commenting that this is a freedom issue understand that mandates around ensuring public health for the greater good dates back to the founding fathers (the same guys who wrote the Constitution). George Washington as many of us know had the Continental Army vaccinated for small pox because of its impact on the army despite the side affect of it killing 2-5% of those vaccinated.
This is so dumb. Kids go with the flow and this wouldn’t even be an issue if these parents didn’t make a big deal out of it. Now more taxpayer money is being wasted to defend these assertions.