“Free of masks, free of masks! Thank God almighty, we’re free of masks!”

Some thoughts on Mask Freedom Day, including Charles Darwin on masks.

Well, the day has finally come when our Virginia state legislature passed a statute (with the support of a majority of state Senate Democrats voting), effective today, overriding recalcitrant school boards in Northern Virginia that seemed they were never going to budge on imposing mask requirements on all kids on school grounds (even outside), regardless of the science.

Although the Centers for Disease Control has significantly relaxed its mask recommendations as of this writing, the Virginia state statute takes the mask issue wholly out of the control of school boards going forward. It will take enactment of a new state statute to restore any school board control over the issue in the future. The operative text of the statute states: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law or any regulation, rule, or policy implemented by a school board, school division, school official, or other state or local authority, the parent of any child enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school … may elect for such child to not wear a mask while on school property. A parent making such an election shall not be required to provide a reason or any certification of the child's health or education status. No student shall suffer any adverse disciplinary or academic consequences as a result of this parental election.”

One of our local school board members is a neighbor and friend, and I presented her at the bus stop this morning with a framed quote of Charles Darwin.  The quote reads “The power of communication … has been of paramount importance in the development of man; and the force of language is much aided by the expressive movements of the face … We perceive this at once when we converse on an important subject with any person whose face is concealed.”  Darwin wrote that in 1872, in his book “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.”

The school board member at our bus stop is also a full-time employee of a teachers’ union, the American Federation of Teachers.  Some researchers have concluded that teachers’ unions, rather than public health criteria, were the dominant factor in whether schools reopened in-person or not, finding the following:

Using data on the reopening decisions of 835 public school districts in the United States, we find that school districts in locations with stronger teachers’ unions are less likely to reopen in person even after we control semi-parametrically for differences in local demographic characteristics. These results are robust to four measures of union strength, various potential confounding characteristics, and a further disaggregation to the county level. We also do not find evidence to suggest that measures of COVID-19 risk are correlated with school reopening decisions.

I chose not to frame that quote for our neighbor school board member.

Mask Freedom Day in Virginia follows a visit to Sweden by my wife and I last December, a country that weathered COVID relatively well overall, without requiring kids to wear masks in school.  Researchers analyzing the risks of COVID-19 transmission to people in various professions found teachers in Sweden were at lower risk compared to members of other professions analyzed.  The researchers concluded:

One other finding worth discussing on its own is the low COVID-19 mortality risk of children’s and adolescents’ teachers. Sweden did not shut down schools for these age groups, which have been viewed as a potential transmission source in other countries … [T]he finding that teachers do not appear to be a high risk group in Sweden may contribute one more piece of evidence to the ongoing discussion …

And as reported in the New Yorker:

According to reports, the rate of infection among teachers in Sweden, which as part of its less restrictive response to the virus had left most of its schools open, was no greater than it was in neighboring Finland, which had closed all its schools. “They found that teachers had the same risk of COVID as the average of other professions,” said Martin Kulldorff, a professor at Harvard Medical School who develops statistical and epidemiological methods for disease surveillance.

That should give teachers something to smile about as well.

Still, there will no doubt be some disapproving stares from people who consider wearing masks tantamount to a religious tenet.  (And just last week I was listening to a Great Courses lecture series on “Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science,” which notes in its discussion of psychology: “In observing those deeply connected to organized religion, [Sigmund] Freud saw the same types of behaviors that he observed in his patients who suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder, including the need to repeat certain rituals and a sense of guilt as a motivator for the rituals.” That phenomenon may apply in mask context as well, with some people having come to adopt mask wearing as a sacred ritual, and to feel a sense of guilt when not wearing one.)

But at least those disapproving scowls will be masked.  And I don’t think we’ve reached the depths of Quebec, Canada, where this video clip of a television talk show there features the hosts egging kids on as they proudly proclaim their support for reporting their own parents to the police if they don’t get vaccinated.  (Side note: I say “apparently” because I don’t know French well enough to translate the clip myself.  I took many years of French in high school and college, and got A’s, but, as Bryan Caplan points out, the conditions under which the vast majority of students learn foreign languages in America today, all costs and benefits considered, means it’s a pretty futile exercise.)

Anyway, whatever one’s position on vaccine mandates, it’s interesting to note that even Joseph Stalin himself, if shown the clip from the Canadian talk show, would … disapprove.  I’m currently reading Robert Sapolsky’s book “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst," and he notes this interesting bit of history:

There’s a fascinating historical example of how wrong it feels when someone chooses strangers over kin. This is the story of Pavlik Morozov, a boy in Stalin’s Soviet Union. Young Pavlik, according to the official story, was a model citizen, an ardent flag-waving patriot. In 1932 he chose the state over his kin, denouncing his father (for supposed black marketeering), who was promptly arrested and executed. Soon afterward the boy was killed, allegedly by relatives ... The regime’s propagandists embraced the story. Statues of the young martyr to the revolution were erected. Poems and songs were written; schools were named for him. An opera was composed, a hagiographic movie made. As the story emerged, Stalin was told about the boy. And what was the response of the man most benefiting from such fealty to the state? Was it “If only all my citizens were that righteous; this lad gives me hope for our future”? No. According to historian Vejas Liulevicius of the University of Tennessee, when told about Pavlik, Stalin snorted derisively and said, “What a little pig, to have done such a thing to his own family.” … Thus even Stalin was of the same opinion as most mammals: something’s wrong with that kid.

Now, while I rib school board members for their misconduct in office, I have great admiration for our kids’ school principal.  Interactions with her have always been a joy, including when we had the following email exchange about a month ago:

Email from me to school principal:

[F]irst, wanted to thank you for all the wonderful things you do for kids!  I understand it's Principal Week, but you shouldn't have to wait for any official dates for warm thoughts to be coming your way!  Second, I had a question.  I understand there’s a new school policy that prohibits kids from speaking to each other at lunch, even when they’re wearing a mask.  My informal survey of kids at our bus stop (it’s a pretty large bus stop) reveals that the new policy is, well, universally hated by the kids.  (The verbatim near-universal comment: “I hate it.”)  I was wondering if there is any scientific basis for this policy, or, if not, what the rationale for the policy might be?  Just asking because, if there aren’t any significant upsides to the policy, I fear there’s a definite downside, namely the souring of kids’ views on school generally.  I asked one of our school board members about this, but she said that while she could communicate to you about school policies when she wasn't on the school board, now that she's on the school board she can't talk to you about school policy.  So she directed my question to you. :)

Anyway, much appreciation for your fantastic personality and the energy you bring to your (hopefully, not too thankless) job!

Email from the school principal back to me (within hours):

I love this email so much!  I truly appreciate your kindness; it is very much appreciated.  I love my job, but Covid is not making it fun at all.

I have taken care of the cafeteria “no talking”.  Students will eat the first 15 minutes and will be able to chat away the remaining time.   

Thanks so much for reaching out to me!

Too often, people can get caught up with school board politics, while forgetting the people who work at schools on the ground can often be much more responsive and reasonable, and make some improvements, when the discussion is civil.

And speaking of civility, I think the Governor of Virginia said it well when he described his hope that, whether people are wearing masks at school or not wearing masks at school, there will be mutual respect for those decisions on both sides.

So here’s to smiles all around, even to those under masks.