I live in Kailua-Kona, my twins attend Holualoa Elementary School. I am writing out of frustration and concern for the continued outdoor and indoor mask mandate at our school, with no end insight.
My family and I are part of the silent majority who has done what has been asked of us, keeping ourselves and community safe, but I will stay silent no longer. My husband and I are vaccinated and boosted and our twins are fully vaccinated. We have worn our masks and followed the emergency proclamations as we believed they were the best way to protect ourselves and community.
And now that the cases have declined, we have one of the highest vaccination rates, our hospitals are not overwhelmed, and the CDC recently updated its mask guidance, Hawaii should have a plan to remove its mask mandates. According to the CDC guidance our state has low levels of COVID cases and can remove mask mandates. So why are we still wearing masks, especially our keiki outside at school? We are the only state that has zero plan to follow the new CDC guidance. I watched Gov. David Ige’s press conference on Tuesday and was frustrated when he said the mask mandate would not change as the CDC was still recommending masks, this was a gross misrepresentation of the CDCs recommendation. Yes, the CDC does recommend masks in areas with high levels of COVID, which Hawaii is not.
My main concern is the health of my children. Last fall my daughter fainted from heat exhaustion at the end of recess. She had been running around and playing outside with a mask on when she fainted from heat exhaustion. Thankfully, her teacher was right there and caught her before she fell on the ground. This was very scary moment for me — a child can die from heat exhaustion, it happens every year all over the country. This is a very real and serious concern of mine as the weather gets hotter. Running around outside in the heat with a mask on can be dangerous, this is definitely something to consider, I’m very worried for all our keiki.
My position is not unique. I have many friends/parents who feel the same, we are frustrated. It’s time to move past mask mandates, especially outside at school.
Karrie Sebastian is a resident of Kailua-Kona.