‘Let them breathe.’ Some protesters call on NC, Wake to end school face mask mandate.

Dozens of protesters rallied outside Tuesday afternoon’s Wake County school board meeting to call for the end of requiring face masks to be worn in schools.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is still requiring face coverings to be worn in places such as schools and childcare centers, even as he’s lifted the state’s mask mandate for most other settings.

More than 40 protesters stood outside the Wake County school system’s headquarters in Cary and chanted “let them breathe” and “no more masks,” saying it was abusive to continue making children wear face masks.

Protesters also held up signs such as “Stop Punishing Our Kids,” “Masking Children Is Abuse” and “Unmask Our Children.” Speakers called on Wake to at least send a letter to Cooper asking that masks be made optional.

“Going to school used to be really fun and exciting,” said Dylan Trussell, a 5th-grade student at Holly Grove Elementary School in Holly Springs. “Now it feels more like a prison. It’s stressful. You’re not allowed to see people’s faces, and they’re not allowed to see yours.”

NC says masks needed until kids are vaccinated

During a news conference Friday, Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary for the state Department of Health and Human Services, cited how most children haven’t been vaccinated yet from COVID-19 as a reason to continue to require face masks in schools.

Last week, a COVID-19 vaccine was approved for children as young as 12. It’s not clear when a vaccination for elementary students will be available.

Face masks have been required to be worn in schools by students, school employees and visitors since the start of the school year. It was only last month that DHHS made outdoor face mask use at schools optional, resulting in some districts such as Wake dropping the outdoor requirement.

Dr. Danny Benjamin, co-chairman of the ABC Science Collaborative, has credited the state’s face mask requirement as one of the reasons for why there has been a low rate of COVID transmission in schools. The ABC Collaborative, a partnership between Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill, was charged by the state to analyze COVID data in schools.

Speakers dispute effectiveness of masks

Several speakers took their concerns directly into the Wake school board meeting Tuesday, disputed the value of face masks, the vaccine and the health risks of coronavirus for children.

“The bottom line is masks are not safe, they’re not effective, especially for school-age children,” said Robert Waldrop, a parent. He also claimed that COVID vaccines “are not safe and they are not effective.”

Jessica Lewis, the parent of two elementary students, said masks were causing her kids to see their oxygen levels become depleted while at school.

“Take the masks off our children and let them breathe,” Lewis told the board. “Let the parents choose what they think is best for their kids.”

The majority of the written public comments submitted to the school board meeting were from people who opposed the face mask requirement. But other comments were from people who said it’s important to continue requiring face coverings.

““I have a high risk child who is a cancer survivor, who wants and needs to go back to school — she needs peers to be either wearing masks or vaccinated to keep her safe,” wrote Valerie Rye, a Wake parent. “You have the power to keep our children safe until they can be vaccinated — please keep masks until all children in schools can be vaccinated.”