Keep Tolland Children and Community Safe and Masked in Schools

Living in the town of Tolland are approximately 1,500 children under the age of 12.  These precious human beings are not yet eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine.  There are a number of people who feel that masking is no longer necessary, or that it is too inconvenient.  We, the undersigned residents of Tolland, are asking that the decision makers make the decision to keep our children safe from the coronavirus.

We ask that you mandate masking in all school buildings, regardless of vaccination status, in accordance with the latest guidance from the CDC (resource #1).  Governor Lamont has left the decision about municipal buildings up to the officials in the municipalities (#4), but we believe a strong statement about the physical health  and safety of our children must be made. Currently, Connecticut's Department of Public Health is mandating universal masking in school buildings (#6), and we are asking that you comply with this, and extend it as necessary to make sure all of our children are safe, especially our immunocompromised community members who depend on the rest of us for "herd immunity."

Tolland's class sizes are too large to allow for adequate social distance.  The Delta variant is too pernicious to ignore.  Every single child and adult associated with our schools deserve to be as safe as possible from possibly contracting this deadly virus at school.

Tolland County has already endured 188 deaths, and we are not willing to add any more to that number when there is a safe, effective method of discouraging the transmission of the virus.

Please see the following resources:

National Masking Guidelines from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html

2. Willington, CT's decision to mandate masking in municipal buildings: https://patch.com/connecticut/stafford-willington/town-willington-reinstituting-face-mask-requirements

3. Mansfield, CT's decision to mandate masking in municipal buildings: https://mansfieldct.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=831

4. Governor Lamont's decision to leave it to municipal leaders regarding masking in municipal buildings: https://ctmirror.org/2021/08/05/lamont-issues-order-allowing-cities-and-towns-to-impose-mask-mandates/

5. Statement about Governor Lamont's choice to delay making a decision about school masking until later in the summer: https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2021/08-2021/Governor-Lamont-Issues-Executive-Order-Allowing-Municipalities-To-Implement-Universal-Mask

6. Connecticut Department of Public Health Order regarding masking after 5/19/21 in all school buildings:  https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/Coronavirus/20210807-DPH-Order-Regarding-Universal-Masking.pdf

7. General information from CNN regarding children's susceptibility to the coronavirus: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/07/health/children-covid-19-protection/index.html      

Kate Howard-Bender    Contact the author of the petition