Alima Bryant, 33, a mother of four who organizes anti-mask parenting in Branford, Connecticut, said she was not a conspiracy theorist but believes scientists have overestimated the dangers of COVID-19, especially to children. She said she will take her children off school instead of exposing them to wearing masks which she believes are more likely to make them sick than the virus.
“Especially with young children, I can imagine how often they touch dirty things and then touch the mask,” she said. “Plus, you have to learn social cues in kindergarten, and even when you’re talking and everything, it’s so important not to wear a mask.”
But parents like Ryan Zuimmerman of Lenexa, Kansas fear that this approach will prolong the pandemic.
In Johnson County, Kansas, the state’s most populous county, five counties recommend masks, but they are not mandatory. A sixth district has not yet been decided.
Zimmerman said at a recent country commissioner meeting that if masks are only recommended and not required, “95% of children will not wear them.”
“This is not about comfort or control or obedience or your rights. It’s not about conspiracy or child abuse. It’s about doing what you want others to do, ”he said.
“I ask you this, if your child was at high risk, what if you had to send this child, whom you had protected all your life, to school in this setting?”