We need more of leaders heeding science and far less politicization of public health issues

THE ISSUE: Cocalico, Columbia Borough, Conestoga Valley, Donegal, Elizabethtown Area, Hempfield, Lampeter-Strasburg, Lancaster, Manheim Township and Pequea Valley school districts began school last week. Eastern Lancaster County, Ephrata Area, Manheim Central, Penn Manor, Octorara Area, Solanco and Warwick school districts start this week. Of these public school districts, only Lancaster, Columbia Borough and Manheim Township are requiring all students and school staff to wear masks indoors.

LNP | LancasterOnline is an objective, essential news source for people who want to know what’s happening in Lancaster County. And one of the responsibilities that comes with reporting information honestly and in good faith is acknowledging and correcting mistakes promptly.

Such an instance happened early Saturday morning, with an article involving COVID-19 case totals in Lancaster County school districts. This news organization swiftly corrected elements of the article that had initially relied on faulty data.

Before LNP | LancasterOnline could correct the error, one local elected official exploited the erroneous data, we believe, to score a political point.

First, to explain the error: The article published by LNP | LancasterOnline, in print and online, included the COVID-19 case numbers for districts that reopened last week. The accurate count was 35 cases for Lancaster County and 11 for the School District of Lancaster, which has a mask mandate.

Because of an error by the School District of Lancaster, this news organization reported much higher — and incorrect — figures for the county and the School District of Lancaster.

LNP | LancasterOnline corrected the error online and published a correction on Page A2 of Sunday’s newspaper.

But the online correction didn’t happen before state Sen. Ryan Aument, R-Mount Joy, had jumped on the story, tweeted out the incorrect figures about School District of Lancaster and added, “I am grateful for school boards throughout Lancaster Co for thoughtfully considering how best to protect their students and educators.”

We believe Aument’s implication, by sharing the incorrect data alongside that statement, was meant to downplay the importance of universal masking as a COVID-19 mitigation measure.

That was seemingly reaffirmed by a later tweet, in which Aument wrote: “My post this morning clearly led to a review and update to the reported COVID numbers. Please do take note of the updated LNP article and editor’s note. My underlying point remains, local school district decision making and parental choice is best.”

We appreciate Aument directing his followers to read the correction but still find it disappointing that his original tweet was framed in a way that’s unsupportive of the health guidelines we should all be following amid a resurgent pandemic that’s killing more than 1,200 Americans a day and increasingly sickening children under 12, who cannot yet be vaccinated.

We weren’t the only ones frustrated by Aument’s tweets. In a letter to LNP | LancasterOnline that appears in today’s Opinion section, School District of Lancaster Superintendent Damaris Rau and school board President Edith Gallagher wrote, “Unfortunately, some readers, including state Sen. Ryan Aument, commented on social media about (the initial wrong data) ... to push a political narrative at odds with the expert advice of our local health providers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is irresponsible and disappointing. It’s also why our district follows the guidance of doctors over the pronouncements of politicians angling for votes.”

Rau and Gallagher added: “Like everyone, we yearn for a return to ‘normal.’ But we will not put those wishes ahead of the simple, prudent measures that we can take to protect our students and staff.”

We long for a return to normal, too. Which is one reason we’ve been writing frequent editorials calling for all Lancaster County school boards to follow the science and mandate masking.

With the failure of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-led General Assembly to take steps to help protect Pennsylvania schoolchildren, we wish schools would swiftly follow in the footsteps of the School District of Lancaster, Columbia Borough and Manheim Township.

Case study in California

But, as we keep saying, don’t take our word for it. Examine the guidance and research provided by health experts.

The CDC, which — along with the American Academy of Pediatrics — recommends universal masking in schools, released a report last week detailing the unfortunate action that led to the spread of the delta variant at an elementary school with universal masking and social distancing in California earlier this year.

Here’s how The Washington Post summarized the report:

“One teacher, who was not vaccinated against the coronavirus, began feeling fatigued and had some nasal congestion. She dismissed it as allergies and powered through. While she was usually masked, she made an exception for story time so she could read to the class.

“By the time she learned she was positive for the coronavirus two days later, half her class of 24 had been infected — nearly all of them in the two rows closest to her desk — and the outbreak had spread to other classes, siblings and parents, including some who were fully vaccinated.”

The awful takeaways reaffirm that the delta variant is incredibly contagious and that, while there is no 100% foolproof way to stop it, mitigation measures such as keeping masks on and social distancing (the schoolchildren in the rows closest to the teacher were the most affected) do help.

So why wouldn’t we always do everything within our power to lessen the virus’s opportunities to sicken us and spread?

“The thing is delta takes advantage of slippage from any kind of protective measures,” epidemiologist Tracy Lam-Hine told The Washington Post.

Extreme diligence remains vital during this surge. We’ve recently noted gut-wrenching outbreaks in school districts that began their academic year earlier than Lancaster County — and many of which do not mandate masks. Across the nation, schools are closing amid outbreaks, dealing with staffing shortages and temporarily returning to remote learning.

It would be heartbreaking to see students here return to remote learning, after all they’ve been through the past two school years.

Unfortunately, it might not be 100% within our control anymore to avoid that outcome. But it is within our control to mandate and follow the CDC’s recommended mitigation measures. That gives us the best chance to keep school doors open.

Here’s an additional calculus for officials in school districts that remain mask-optional to consider: The inconvenience of wearing masks is minimal when compared to the demonstrated importance of in-person learning, both to students’ academic performance and to their mental/emotional health. A risk-reward analysis of keeping more students in school for more in-person instructional days should lead to the conclusion that a mask mandate is the best approach for this moment.

In the meantime, Aument issued a news release Monday indicating that, in the near future, he will introduce legislation to create a universal Education Savings Account for parents and students to utilize during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“I recognize that parents will not always agree with the decisions made by their local school board,” Aument stated in the release. “While it is imperative that we empower local officials to make decisions and create policies that they believe will best serve the unique needs of their communities, it is also important that we empower parents with the ability to choose where to send their children to school, especially when the decisions made by the school board create concerns surrounding the health and academic success of children.”

How can that be a focus right now?

Aument’s proposal looks to us like a made-for-media effort — much like Gov. Wolf’s useless public plea last week to the vacationing General Assembly for statewide school masking — rather than a genuine approach to a governance problem.

We remember that too-brief moment when Wolf and Aument worked together via the COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force to help Pennsylvanians navigate this public health crisis in real time.

The crisis continues.

But the leadership, at almost all levels, has left the room.

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Crédito: THE LNP | LANCASTERONLINE EDITORIAL BOARD