Letter to BESE RE: School Reopening Concerns
July 9, 2020
RE: Request for Evidence of Safety
Dear Superintendent Brumley and Members of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education:
The unprecedented closure of American schools in March, due to fear and flawed SARS-CoV-2 predictive models, started the ball rolling for irreparable harm to many of our children. And now, even with overall death rates dropping by 90% we are being told that we must continue to sacrifice all aspects of our lives, and accept all collateral damage, no matter how severe. We are here to say we are out of patience, and we will not sacrifice our children.
We are deeply concerned that the Guidelines from the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana Department of Education regarding schools reopening do not take into account the impact, both short and long-term, on children’s health and well-being.
We are therefore asking you to provide by July 31, 2020, the following information:
- Evidence of physical safety for children to wear masks or shields 7 hours a day;
- Evidence that mask or shield wearing is safe with respect to emotional and psychological health;
- Evidence that social-distancing and promoting fear of pathogens is safe with respect to immune,
physical, emotional, and psychological health; - Evidence that mask and shield wearing by children and educators does not negatively impact
learning and brain function; - Evidence that masks and shields prevent virus transmission rather than enhance it, given real-world
conditions such as homemade masks, poor fit, constant mask or shield and facial touching; - Evidence of necessity of masking and social-distancing based on most current data;
- Evidence that the risk of severe disease in children is not rare;
- Evidence that children have been significant sources of transmission to individuals at risk of severe
disease; - Evidence that avoidance of natural exposure, natural immunity, and natural herd immunity is a safe
approach for children.
If you have no evidence that the experimental measures in your Guidelines would do no harm to the physical, emotional, and psychological development of our children, then eliminate them. Promote the existing effective treatment protocols, and set our children free to learn in a normal and socially interactive environment.
Sincerely,
The Concerned Parents of Health Freedom Louisiana
Cc The Honorable John Bel Edwards, Governor
Louisiana Department of Health
Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Members of the Louisiana Senate