By Isabella Montenegro
Opinion Editor
On March 12, the mask mandate was lifted for all public schools in Los Angeles. Decreasing COVID-19 data trends, along with the potential improved well being of students, justifies the mask-mandate being lifted at Mira Costa and schools in the county.
According to National Geographic, students and teachers have cited social, emotional, and anxiety development to occur due to masks being required for such an extended period. Mask-wearing being a strict requirement has caused some adolescents to become reliant on it for how they are perceived by others, according to UC.edu. Masking hides half the face, and students may rely on it to hide insecurities, thus potentially spurring insecurity, shame, and fear that others may criticize their appearance.
While there was a serious scare during the beginning of this year with the Omicron variant, cases have decreased and are currently showing to be promising. According to the CDC, the current seven-day moving average of daily new cases has gone down approximately 30
percent. Therefore, it may be safe to assume that the downward trend in cases is an indicator to uplift mask-wearing in classrooms.
The surge of Omicron variant had many students contaminate this variant. According to ManhattanBeach.gov, by the end of January, 218 new cases were documented in the city of Manhattan Beach. Contracting variants of COVID-19 create antibodies in the contaminated body that can lead to protection to fighting off viruses, according to the CDC. A large portion of those cases come from Costa students, according to ManhattanBeach.gov.
Lifting the mask mandate for classrooms for schools is timely as cases are decreasing, and many students have antibodies to fight the virus after being infected and/or getting vaccinated. Students’ well-being should be the first priority, and lifting the mask mandate for schools is positive action.
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