MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced Monday under his latest executive order parents of children in grades K-12 can opt-out of any mask mandate inside schools. He minimized the number of children in Tennessee affected by COVID-19 and said it should be the parent's decision whether to have their child wear a mask.
"Requiring parents to make children wear masks to solve an adult problem is in my view the wrong approach," Lee said Monday.
Question: Is Covid-19 an "adult problem?" Answer: No
Our sources: Dr. Jason Yaun, the clinical director of the General Pediatrics program at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, and the Shelby County Health Department.
What we found: There is ample evidence COVID-19, especially the Delta variant, is affecting children. SCHD reported Tuesday of the 7,425 active COVID-19 cases in Shelby County, 1,594 are kids between 5 and 18 years old. That's 21.5% of active cases.
Dr. Yaun also said more children are being hospitalized. Currently, Le Bonheur is caring for 28 children with the virus. Six of those children are in critical condition and two are on ventilators.
"We’re seeing rising numbers of cases in children," Dr. Yaun said. "Obviously, children [younger] than 12 can’t be vaccinated and we still have a low percentage of children who are 12 to 18 who are vaccinated."
Question: Do face masks protect children? Gov. Lee also said, "They’re protective and if parents want their child to be protected in that way then they should do so."
Answer: Yes. In fact, Dr. Yaun said masks protect both you and those around you. He said it's proven if everyone inside a school is masked up, they are not a source of community spread.
"It provides direct protection to children, but then it also does provide protection to adults as well because obviously children are going to come home from school and be around adults," Dr. Yaun said.
Even though the governor said masks are protective, there is a disagreement on who should make the decision regarding our children. Gov. Lee said it should be left up to the parents while health experts said mandates are necessary for the greater good, especially with a contagious and deadly virus spreading so fast. Either way, that's a matter of personal opinion, so we'll call that an open question.
