It has been some time since the last COVID related public service announcement, however I recorded one that was released today. You can watch it here. A summary of that video follows but does not have the data slides that are shown in the video.
Orland Park fared very well over the last 16 months because we took a common-sense approach that emphasized keeping the public informed, taking moderate safety measures and allowing our residents to use their own best judgment.
Last week District 135 informed us that all our summer camp participants would be required to wear masks while in District 135 buildings. For this reason, we moved our summer camp activities to the Village of Orland Park Cultural Center. While investigating this decision, I was also made aware of our local school regulations regarding both masks and vaccines, which are due to recent mandates from IDPH and ISBE. are concerning. In my opinion, we should be letting parents make these choices and not singling out our children.
First, other states and the Village of Orland Park have shown that a common-sense approach works. Case rates across states have not been correlated to opening decisions. The Village of Orland Park allowed businesses to open, sports tournaments to resume, concerts and events to take place and our mortality rate per capita is lower than the state and county. In fact, over 95% of Orland Park’s deaths with COVID remain connected to nursing homes, 86% over the age of 70, with nobody under 50 dying with COVID.
Second, IDPH and ISBE have horrible track records and continue with policies that are illogical. Many mayors joined me in pointing these out as unscientific at the time.
Currently, according to IDPH, kids don’t need to be masked to be in Guaranteed Rate Field or Wrigley Field. Kids are not required to wear a mask to go to a concert at the United Center. However, IDPH is saying that kids need to remain masked in school if they are unvaccinated, even though children under 12 cannot receive the vaccines.
Recently, the FDA added a warning about the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis from taking the vaccine, primarily due to side effects experienced by adolescent boys and young men. Also, the CDC still recommends this vaccine for children over 12.
All of this information is conflicting, yet it appears that we are going to require kids to wear masks if they are unvaccinated and play sports. This is madness. Let’s let parents consult with their doctors and make the decision that they deem best for their children.
Private schools were able to be in person all year. Some nearby public schools were also in person. North Palos 117 opened 3 days late and were in person all year. Students 5th grade and under were 100% in person. Due to a small school and a large student population, junior high students were 50/50 hybrid all year, with parents having the choice to keep students 100% remote as well. Parents were allowed to choose what was best for their kids. If our nearby schools were able to do this, why weren’t we?
Orland Park residents are well ahead of the state and county with regard to COVID vaccinations and all teachers have had access to the vaccine. Our parents and local school board has the ability to make decisions based on local data like this, rather than following generic state guidance based on statewide data.
It is true that immunizations are required for children to attend school for diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, pertussis, polio, chickenpox, rubella & meningitis. These diseases are more contagious and/or more debilitating to children. Additionally, these vaccines were fully tested before being made available, much less mandatory. It should also be noted that there are medical and religious exemptions for all these vaccinations.
While all agencies are careful to say the vaccine is not mandatory for children, policies that single them out, like masking for sports or quarantining for 2 weeks at home, are de facto efforts to shame children and parents into an emergency use vaccination.
When this began, we had little to no information and few cases in the state or nation which made decision making difficult. Now we have had over 1.3 million cases in Illinois and over 34 million cases in the United States later. We now have a lot of data.
This data tells us that children are far less impacted by COVID than any other age group. Cook County data shows that hospitalization rates for those 20 and under are 1.3% compared to 35.2% for those over 80. Illinois data shows that the mortality rate for those under 20 is .008% compared to 19.9% for those over 80.
In fact, COVID is less deadly for children than the flu. Since the beginning of this crisis 324 children 17 and under have died with COVID in those 17 months in the United States. This compares to 477 in the 2018 to 2019 flu season. The H1N1 pandemic caused between 890 to 1,840 deaths in children 17 and under in the United States. The seasonal flu and particularly the H1N1 flu were more deadly for children yet we never enacted masking and vaccination policies for these diseases.
If adults can return to normal, let’s let our children do the same. Let them be children and let them go to school normally. It is time to stop putting controls and government mandates on our children, and let parents, with the help of their family doctors and the public information that is widely available, decide what is best for their children.
It is critical to have civil discussions on this issue and that fact-based decisions and plans are made before the next school year is upon us.
