CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Students in New Hampshire’s second largest city will be required to wear face masks when they return to school later this month, the school board decided Monday.
The CDC recently recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors at schools nationwide, regardless of vaccination status. The agency cited the risk of spread of the highly contagious delta variant, even among vaccinated people.
The policy adopted for Nashua’s roughly 11,000 students will require masks to be worn inside school buildings and buses, but not during recess or sports outside.
Board members heard passionate arguments on both sides of the debate.
Lynn L’Heureux, an emergency room nurse, argued against the mandate and described treating an increasing number of depressed and suicidal children. Though she said she loves her job, she said she probably would not have pursued a career in nursing had she known the pandemic was coming.
“When asked multiple times, it’s always masks, social distancing. They feel guarded, they’re emotionally distressed, they can’t communicate properly,” she said. “Masks are a hindrance. They are a pain in the butt.”
Darlene Ford, whose son is going into third grade, spoke in favor of requiring masks, saying it would be easier to start the year cautiously and then relax rules later if things improve.
“Yes, I’m concerned about my kid’s social development but the key thing I want him to learn concern for others, that he’s responsible at school for behaving in a way that’s safe for the people around him,” she said.
Regan Lamphier, whose 8-year-old son died of a respiratory illness in 2014, praised the board for focusing on science and safety and said she hopes no other parents go through what she experienced.
“If one child dies in Nashua, it is too many,” she said.
Board member Paula Johnson voted against the plan, citing an article she found online that suggested that masks have been vectors for everything from meningitis and diphtheria to Legionnaires’ disease and Lyme disease.
“This is what we’re breathing in in the masks because of the moisture,” she said, describing tests performed on masks worn by children in Florida.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the tests as “pseudo-study” and experts have dismissed the reports as misleading.
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THE NUMBERS
More than 102,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, including 96 cases announced Monday. No new deaths were announced, keeping the total at 1,389.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire has risen over the past two weeks from 46 new cases a day on July 25 to 162 new cases a day on Sunday.
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