The first thing that everyone must understand is that wearing masks as protection from Covid or to spread Covid to others is 100% emotional, containing 0% logic. There isn’t one scientific study that rules in favor of masks being a preventative measure at all in relation to Covid, and over time, since March of 2020 when health departments in an initial act of helplessness wanted to take steps to slow the spread of the virus as it was unleashed on the world to do something, even if it was symbolic, not to incite a public panic as their worlds came undone with Mike DeWine lockdowns and closure of the American economy during a presidential election year. After two years of this behavior, some people are naturally timid and want to believe they can do something to control the various virus spawns that have come from Covid, and their fears have taken over their rationality. In a school system like Lakota with over 17,000 students in the population, there are lots of people who believe lots of things, but when it comes to the wearing of masks and imposing that belief on children who are supposed to be learning to think and not just take orders, this issue of mandating masks in schools has been detrimental to the learning culture of all public schools. Thankfully, the newly elected school board member Darby Boddy has made a motion to add a resolution to the agenda of the January 24th school board meeting to reset the health measures established before March 20th of 2020. In other words, to be rid of the mask mandates and the additional Covid standards that spawned from much irrationality as Covid was unleashed into our society and opinions about how to deal with it evolved strictly down political viewpoints, not around scientific logic. Darbi is proposing for Lakota to take leadership on the mask mandate issue and show the rest of Ohio what a logical management approach to the issue should look like, which is a wonderful thing that essentially took a new election even to put on the table. And thank God she has.
Now naturally, all the people who have been standing in the way of addressing this mask-wearing issue in public schools had their faces melt as Darbi proposed pages and pages of information supporting her position toward the safety resolution. But logic was never the factor in making children wear masks. What essentially happened was that all the really timid people in the world who seek government jobs in the health departments, the Governor’s office in Ohio, school administration jobs, people afraid of lightening, of wind, of sunsets, suddenly Covid gave them power over all the scary risk-takers in the world and they became addicted to the power like a drug addict on Heroin. And after two years of the behavior, they do not want to give up that power over others. They certainly don’t want to go back to normal before March 2020. For them, which is many of the employees in the Lakota school system, the lawyers who they employ, all the surrounding public employee unions, even the police unions, Covid has given them the cover story of their dreams, and they have no desire to return to “normal.” Roughly 5% of any work culture always want a doctor’s note to get them out of work whenever they want. Covid is far better than FMLA or any regular doctor’s note if they should be inclined to take a day off work excused. All you have to do with Covid is say that you were next to someone who was next to someone, who was next to someone who had Covid, and “poof,” you must stay in quarantine for some CDC recommended days. No doctor’s note, no logical approach, just perceptual reality. Covid has been a dream come true for the lazy in any workforce.
Therefore, the fight to continue the mask-wearing mandates extends beyond political parties and descends into the cover of the less inclined employees. They spend a lot of time in their lives looking for reasons not to work. And that makes the management of any workforce a nightmare to conduct. That is certainly true in the private sector, but in a large school district like Lakota with thousands of students and hundreds of teachers and administrators, a 5% call-off rate is a nightmare to cover. To follow all the ridiculous CDC rules is irrational at best. But that’s what has been happening. The medical tyrants have had their way, and everyone has danced to their tune, including most legal representation. For lawyers, the easy thing for them to do is to recommend full compliance to CDC recommendations, even though there is no legal authority for the CDC or any local department of health to impose mandates of any kind on anybody, anywhere. Outside of government work, which public schools are, much life is returning to normal, such as in the NFL, where stadiums are open. People are enjoying the games as they did before March of 2020. Of course, the CDC recommends other behavior, but fans of the NFL experience are done with Covid and are returning to “normal,” and we do not see mass deaths. We hear alarming reports about case spikes, but as history shows, these cases aren’t any different from common colds in the past, and people have learned to live their lives anyway. They get the virus, get over it, and return to their lives as they always did. That same approach needs to be applied to all public schools as well. Covid protocols have gone on too long, and it is now having an impact on children in a negative way, which Darbi included evidence of in her proposed resolution, which will be voted upon in February 2022.
For life to return to normal, which needs to, people like Darbi need to show leadership in political opposition. At this point, any scientific consideration about Covid isn’t a factor. There is nothing in science to support that masks do anything rational to help with Covid in any way. Instead, it’s purely political. It’s political for the teacher’s union. It’s political for the health departments. It’s political for the CDC connected to the Biden administration. It’s political for the law firms who see this Covid issue as easy money. But for those who must lead others and show courage to the world, it’s time to return to a normal life. To stop being afraid of Covid. And to start managing it proactively. It’s OK to support timid people who have real fears about Covid created for them in countless news reports rooted in politics and not rationality. But the purpose of a public school is to teach children, and it is the task of our society to ensure that they have the best opportunity at a good life while in that school experience. The authority figures might not want to surrender the controls they’ve enjoyed during Covid. But we owe it to children everywhere to take that leadership and show them that life goes on and that they don’t need to be afraid of every little thing in the world. The only thing dangerous about Covid is the perception that a government alliance with media has created. Legally, there is nothing to take action on. There is no liability to irrational fears. There is no constitutional enforcement. Governors have tried, and they have learned that the Supreme Courts of the states and the Federal level have no stomach for this nonsense. It’s time to take all that power back away from those who have become so addicted to all this Covid abuse. And to give kids a chance at a normal life, once again.
Rich Hoffman
The Gunfighter's Guide: 