(A copy of the email sent to my State Senator. Please write your own letters.)
September 30, 2021
Re: Legislation to allow parents to exempt their K-12 students from mask mandate
Dear Senator,
My name is Becky. I am the mom of two children (4th and 8th grades) and am a resident here in northwestern PA. As a pandemic parent, I want nothing more than for things to return to normal for my kids. I want a full house for the Oil Region Ballet’s performance in February/March 2022. I want field trips and soccer games. I want the fears, anxieties, and questions associated with COVID to end. I would like the teachers to be able to focus on teaching and curriculum. I would like for the superintendents and school nurses to have a weekend without the work of case investigations, contact tracing, and quarantining students.
My role as a mom who is parenting through the pandemic is coupled with the fact that I am also an epidemiologist. I have spent the past two decades of my life committed to preventive healthcare; conducting research here in Crawford County; advocating for vaccines; and educating the next generation of public health professionals. I am a member of the faculty at Allegheny College. And you may have seen me (if you watch the Erie news) on Erie News Now where I am an exclusive contributor or from my collaboration with Crawford County Commissioner Eric Henry on Facebook.
I am writing today for two reasons.
First, I am - as both a mom and epidemiologist - opposed to your work to allow for parental exemptions to the Secretary of Health’s mask mandate. Masking is about community health, safe schools, and slowing the spread of disease throughout our communities, country, and world. I understand that you want to allow parents to make their own health-related decisions for their kids. Seriously, I understand where you are coming from. BUT, masking cannot be an individual decision; it is a community effort and commitment to slow the spread of disease. We live in a world where we come in contact with others. Where we share space, equipment, and air (where this virus is hanging out and making so many people sick). And at this moment in time, we all are (or should be) working to fight our shared enemy - the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Masking is a community intervention aimed at reducing disease spread.
Evidence from both randomized controlled trials and observational epidemiology studies shows that masks prevent disease spread, keep schools open, and reduce the number of cases of COVID-19. Masking is a community intervention. Masking works when we all wear a mask. If/when we allow people to pick and choose if/when they wear a mask, we will prolong the pandemic, there will be more cases of the disease, and there are bound to be more disappointments as people die and events are canceled.
Your work to promote legislation to allow parents to exempt their children from the mask mandate will result in more cases of disease, loss of life, increased medical costs, missed school days, and the prolongment of the pandemic. Your work to promote this legislation is working against the public health workforce that has long protected you.
My second reason for writing is to ask for your help.
Instead of fighting against public health efforts with your anti-mask legislation,
would you consider working collaboratively with me to slow the spread of COVID?
Here is what I am thinking —
In Crawford County, only 40% of the population has received the COVID-19 vaccine. Would you consider advocating for vaccines with me?
The Meadville Halloween parade is just a few weeks away, would you consider creating some PSAs for attending and participating in the parade safely as cases of COVID rise exponentially across the county?
We are anticipating that the Pfizer vaccine will be available for children 5-11 years in the coming weeks, will you work with me to promote vaccines, educate parents, and potentially host a vaccine clinic for kids?
Your political capital combined with my expertise in public health/epidemiology could make a real difference here in northwestern Pennsylvania. Instead of working against public health by trying to legislate mask exemptions, could we work collaboratively to slow the spread of disease? increase vaccination rates?
I believe that collaboration - where you rely on my expertise as an epidemiologist and public health professional and I respect your political platform - is how we slow the spread of disease, keep schools and businesses open, and bring an end to the pandemic. We are both after the same thing — an end to the pandemic.
I invite you to join me to improve the health of our community.
Please use your time in the legislature to listen to the public health experts.
Masks are a way to improve community health and slow the spread of this deadly disease. I have spent the past 25 years of my life studying, research, teaching, and leading in the field of public health. Please listen to me; collaborate with me; support me to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Please stop working on legislation that will increase the spread of COVID-19.
Join me to improve public health in our community.
Respectfully,
Becky - your local epidemiologist mama