Janni Simner: Pima County schools must require masks

Two days into the school year, Marana Unified School district already has 37 active COVID cases.

As of Monday, Vail School District, which returned in July, reported 57 cases.

Pima County is currently averaging 136 new COVID cases per day, and those cases are rising.

The data is clear. We are in the midst of a major COVID outbreak, and our schools are not safe. They are especially unsafe for elementary and younger middle school students who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, nationally child COVID cases increased 84% in the past week, and Banner Health says COVID-related hospital admissions for children doubled in July.

Yet Arizona law prohibits public schools from enacting the mask requirements that last year protected in-person learners.

Schools need to require masks anyway — even if it means defying that law.

This week Tucson Unified School District became the first county district to do just that. Other local districts remain understandably reluctant to disregard state law, and none should do so lightly. But any school’s first responsibility must be to students and their safety.

After all, if a building were on fire, and state law required everyone remain indoors, most of us would leave the building anyway. So it is with our alarming spike in COVID cases — only now it’s our schools that are on fire. We’re in the middle of a public health crisis, and our moral and public health obligations are clear.

Studies show masks work, and the CDC recommends indoor masking for all schools. For children under 12, who are ineligible to be vaccinated, masks are the only real protection they have. Voluntary masking policies are not enough — the data from Vail and Marana, where classes are just starting, make this clear. So do pictures on social media, such as the recent teacher training photos on the Catalina Foothills Unified School District Facebook page, which show rooms full of unmasked teachers and staff.

In requiring masks on campus, TUSD joins four Phoenix districts that have already made the same decision. So far none have seen pushback from the state. The Arizona Public Health Association suggests the law itself may be unconstitutional and might not survive a legal challenge.

Regardless, we can’t let these adult fears stop us from doing what’s right.

Our first, foremost responsibility is to our children. They need and deserve a safe place to learn, and right now most of them do not have one.

It’s up to all our local public schools to give it to them. Every district in the county must put student safety first.

Every district must require masks on campus, effective immediately.