At this moment in time, less than two-thirds of our school-aged children can get vaccinated. The vaccine is the best armor we have to fight this virus (along with masks), but preschool and elementary school children don’t even have the choice. If we make masks optional, children who are wanting to be vaccinated, and their families, will be unfairly put in harm’s way. If, however, the board waits to make masks optional until all children have had the OPTION to get vaccinated, then at that point (provided the community is in the yellow), we could say we’ve done everything in our power to protect ALL children.

Our community has immunocompromised children, and immunocompromised family members of younger children, who cannot protect themselves until this vaccine has been approved, administered, and given time to take effect.

We all want to reach a place where masks are optional…even those of us with vulnerable families. But we are asking that you wait until two critical things happen:

1) We are in the yellow, and

2) Five or six weeks have passed from the approval of the vaccine for children of all ages. We need this time for both vaccines to be administered and effective.

It is well established that masks work at preventing the spread of disease and keeping kids in school, however, if you need to see data showing this, please review the information at the following link:

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0924-scho...

It’s also imperative that we consider the fact that while Covid cases in Oldham County have recently decreased in adults and adolescents, cases in kids 11 and under have actually been on the rise (data from the Oldham County Health Department).

Please continue giving ALL children every opportunity to stay healthy in school. Please help keep vulnerable children and family members of students safe until we’ve reached those reasonable thresholds.