Pro-Mask Group Plans Public Event Ahead Of CB School Board Vote

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A group of Bucks County medical professionals and concerned parents will hold a press conference outside of the Central Bucks School District administration building ahead of the school board's Tuesday night meeting, where they are expected to call on the board to make mask-wearing mandatory in schools.

The board is scheduled to vote in its health and safety plan for the 2021-2022 school year, which includes an optional masking policy for students and staff, regardless of their vaccination status. All school districts in Pennsylvania that intend to operate in-person are required to submit a health and safety plan to the state by July 31.

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In a press release, the group said the district's plan ignores recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and by the American Academy of Pediatrics that unvaccinated people, including those under the age of 12 who are ineligible to receive a vaccine, continue to wear masks in indoor public settings.

On Tuesday, the CDC is expected to go a step further and urge vaccinated people in high-transmission areas to resume wearing masks indoors as the delta variant spreads, multiple news outlets reported.

Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Department of Education released updated guidelines for the 2021-22 school year on Tuesday that includes a recommendation that unvaccinated people continue to wear masks indoors.

Acting Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh has said the district will continue to follow the advice of the Bucks County Health Department and its director, Dr. David Damsker. During a June school board meeting in which members voted 4-3 to make masks optional for the last week of the school year, Damsker said that masks were no longer needed in schools due to sharply declining levels of COVID-19 cases in Bucks County.

It's unclear if the county health department's stance will change in light of the new CDC guidance expected this afternoon. In a press release Monday, the department said that while the county's COVID-19 case numbers have gone up in recent weeks, the increases have not approached the "alarming, hospital-crowding spikes being seen in states where vaccine rates are especially low."

County Commissioner Bob Harvie said the county will not be recommending masking of the vaccinated.

“Bucks County has no plans to urge fully vaccinated people to wear masks,” Harvie said. “Part of the motivation for people to get vaccinated has been eliminating the need to wear masks in order to be safe from the worst effects of the coronavirus or to keep from spreading it to others."

Damsker could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

The group says that more than 100 local medical professionals have signed a petition, which will be shared on Tuesday, voicing their support of the AAP and CDC recommendations.

“Following CDC and AAP guidelines not only protects children, but protects the community at large from the acute complications and still unknown long-term consequences of this virus,” said Dr. Mariam Mahmud, a pediatrician and Central Bucks School board candidate, in the press release.

“The emergence of more transmissible strains like the Delta variant make disease reporting an essential tool of risk mitigation, as delineated by CDC guidelines,” said Dr. Anusha Viswanathan, a pediatric infectious disease physician.

The press conference will feature remarks from Dr. Mahmud, Dr. Viswanathan, Jennifer Bish, a nurse practitioner in pediatrics, and Paree Pasi, a rising junior at Central Bucks West.

The press conference will be held at 5:30 p.m. at 16 Welden Drive, followed by the school board meeting at 7:30 p.m. If you can't attend the board meeting in-person, audio of the meetings is streamed online and archived on the district's website. The agenda can be found here.

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