Pros and con on school masking

Earlier in 2021, there was hope that with vaccines being free, effective, safe, and readily available, rates of Covid-19 would diminish throughout the summer and be under control by the time school started. Instead, vaccinations rates in Carroll County and Arkansas are some of the lowest in the country, and the Delta variant is spreading rapidly, resulting in the county having a major surge in new cases of the virus.

The Arkansas Legislature has passed Act 1002, a law that forbids public entities, including schools, from requiring masks to help prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease. Children younger than 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated.

Chris McClung, president of the Eureka Springs School Board, is opposed to the legislature’s actions and sees it as taking away local control.

“We managed to get through the last school year in good shape despite all the pandemic problems going on,” McClung said. “We think this community in general supports mask wearing. I am not aware of any instance where people pushed back on the masks at the schools. Students could attend virtual classes. But, by the end of the school year, most of the kids decided to go back to the classroom. For the most part, we fared very well and even saw an uptick in some of our students’ scores. I disagree with that legislation, and I wish they had not implemented it. But it is what it is. We will generally follow the Arkansas Dept. of Education guidelines as it gets closer to the beginning of school.”

McClung said he is concerned about the increasing Covid-19 cases.

“In my mind, those numbers are going the wrong way,” McClung said. “I’ve read that 99 percent of people being hospitalized have not been vaccinated. The trends are upward. Let’s do what the governor says. He wants people to get vaccinated. People need to be diligent and do the right thing.”

Sen. Bob Ballinger, who represents Carroll County and several other counties in the area, stands behind the legislature’s action and said he has no intention of voting to overturn it.

“Is it the government’s job to make choices to protect everyone?” Ballinger asks. “Covid and the Delta variant are no joke. It is very infectious and should be taken care of. The question is, is it the government’s job to intervene and make someone do something they don’t want to do? My constituents would say that is not government’s job.”

Ballinger said voters choose him because of his belief that the government should stop bothering them.

“I hurt for parents who are fearful about sending kids back to school, and who have to think carefully whether continue to go to school online,” Ballinger said. “Ultimately, most people in my district don’t want the government to make their kids wear masks.”

Ballinger said he has not received one call from a school administrator, and he is not concerned that high Covid rates are bad for the reputation of Arkansas. He said the “panicky, left wing” is spreading horrible things about Arkansas.

Ballinger said many are distrustful of government experts on Covid including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who initially said the general public didn’t need to wear masks.

“He knew at that time that would be a benefit, but he was afraid masks would be taken from healthcare workers,” Ballinger said. “The truth is, both sides are spreading misinformation. I hate there is zero place people can go for true science.”

Ballinger said he has legislative colleagues who wear masks and take them off for small meetings.

“It is hypocritical,” Ballinger said.

He also questions whether the new case numbers are accurate, saying a number of people he knows have had breakthrough infections after being vaccinated. He said that could skew the number of cases as a percentage of the population.

Ballinger said Arkansas has a high population of Republicans and people who don’t trust the government, and that has led to distrust of the vaccines.

He compared the science of the Covid-19 vaccines to fluoridation of water supplies, which was opposed by many residents for years before it was mandated by the state. Ballinger said you can find scientific papers that state fluoridation is good for public health despite considerable evidence about health concerns with fluoridation.

“But you aren’t going to see many published, peer-reviewed articles saying fluoridation is bad,” Ballinger said. “Established science has decided fluoridating water is good. I think your readers will get that and realize some people would have the same skepticism for vaccination. Maybe there could be some health concerns we don’t know about it. But I don’t want to dissuade people from vaccinations.”

Ballinger recommends people talk to their doctor or health care provider who knows their medical history. Most will recommend vaccination, he said.

Republicans have long espoused local control of government. But Ballinger said in this case, he voted against government intrusion into people’s liberties.

“If local control is a violation of fundamental rights, then I will take away local control,” he said. “I wish there was a better way to do it. This wasn’t my bill. I had to support the bill as is. There might be a better way to do it, but I don’t know what it is. My constituents were asking to make sure kids aren’t required to wear masks.”

There are no penalties in the legislation.

“Ultimately, if you strongly request kids wear masks in school, there is no law that prohibits that,” Ballinger said. “I would just be careful to not discipline or suspend kids for not wearing a mask.”
           Eureka School Board Member Al Larson said the legislature has put schools between a rock and a hard place.

“Last year our schools set a gold standard of Covid avoidance,” Larson said. “Now the legislature has tied our hands so we can’t mandate those safe practices that worked last year. These are schools. We don’t do recommendations. We do rules. The rules have some specificity.”

Larson said that Carroll County currently has Covid rates that are the equivalent to the pandemic back in February with a rate of 56 new daily cases per 100,000 people on July 27, an increase of 88 percent in the previous two weeks.

“Honestly, if we continue at the current rate, we will exceed what we saw at the previous peak,” Larson said. “The U.S. may not exceed that, but down here in the Southern states, we may exceed that.”

Tom Mars, a Rogers attorney, is representing parents in the lawsuit to overturn Act 1002, which created the ban on mandating safety measures such as masks. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is meeting with legislators on that subject.

The first day of school in Eureka Springs is Aug. 16.