I was asked to write a letter to explain our position regarding keeping our students in masks in school during the next academic year.

It is important, in doing so, that I share my credentials with you.

I am a pediatrician that has practiced medicine for over 30 years. I have been Board Certified in my specialty for 26 years and have worked in various settings, to include emergency rooms, urgent care centers, hospitals and private medical practices. My husband, Dr. David Stein and I have owned our pediatric clinic, International Family Clinic which is located in Burlington NC for almost 22 years.

The mission of our Clinic is to serve children and their families, no matter their socioeconomic, cultural or ethnic backgrounds. Our practice valued treating all patients with equality and respect, before equity became popular. Dr. David Stein and I have served on multiple Boards because we consider the child’s wellbeing to be of utmost importance for the future of our Nation and our communities. We also generously donate our time and financial resources to helping organizations that promote excellent outcomes for families and children. In short, we have dedicated much of our lives to our youth, in hopes that children will be given opportunities to have healthy and productive lives.

It has come to our attention that various Boards of Education across the State of North Carolina, but in particular Alamance County, will be voting regarding whether our students will be required to wear masks in the coming school year. I will share with you what we have observed regarding COVID-19 transmission, masks and children since the pandemic began. It is important to explain that my husband and I did not close our Clinic at any time during the pandemic. We practiced in person medicine throughout 2020 and this year without a furlough. We kept all of our employees on our payroll and gave them the option to take extended time off with pay, if they chose to.

As you see, our experiences with this pandemic are our basis for our assertions.

First of all, we saw very little transmission of Covid-19 from child to child nor child to adult throughout the pandemic.

Children generally have limited symptoms and severity of illness from Covid-19. In the entire time since the pandemic began, only 2 of our 5,000 patients were hospitalized due to acquiring Covid and becoming sickened from it. Both recovered and are doing well today without medical sequelae. This is a much lower rate of severe illness and hospitalization than what we generally experience with Influenza. Many medical studies have asserted the same conclusions.

When mask mandates were initiated, in the summer of 2020, we observed no changes in transmission of Covid-19. We encountered no increase in severity of illness in the community nor among our children and their families. When mask mandates were lifted this spring we did not encounter a spike in the number of cases of Covid-19. It is our conclusion that masking has not been helpful whatsoever in limiting the transmission of the pandemic. Again, you may avail yourselves of numerous studies performed in different locations that have asserted the same outcomes.

Many effects have occurred due to masking and social distancing that have negatively impacted our children.Our patients have become more depressed, anxious and withdrawn. Their mental health has suffered, resulting in spikes in psychiatric hospitalizations, suicide attempts and deaths due to suicides. This is a well known and cited outcome to Covid management including mask wearing and social distancing  in children.

Our patients have developed an increased frequency of facial rashes and skin infections since wearing masks. They are exposed to higher CO2 levels, resulting in higher heart rates and intolerance to heat and exercise when required to wear masks for hours at a time. There are many accounts of physicians reporting similar outcomes in their patients as well.

In short, it is not in the best interests of our students to be mandated to wear masks for extended amounts of time as they can cause harm to the health and mental well being of our children.

It is our conclusion that masks should not be imposed but rather an option, so that the parents may decide if they are comfortable having their children wear them.

It is our hope and prayer that our students have a successful and wonderful school year and they are not limited by anything that would encumber them.

 

Sincerely,