VA Mom Draws Cheers After Letting School Board Have It Over 'Asinine' Mask Policy That Defies Gov's Order
Virginia mom Merianne Jensen let the Prince William County School Board have it last week for defying GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order ending school mask mandates statewide.
Prince William County outside Washington, D.C., is one of seven districts suing Youngkin over the order. Over 50 of Virginia’s approximately 130 school districts still require masks, The Washington Post reported.
Jensen started her comments to the board by stating that they are seeking the same thing: to get people safely through the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, politics leads us to believe there is only one solution: masks. Yet thousands of schools around the country have been open during the entire pandemic without masks and no corresponding rise in serious illness,” she said.
“In fact, things have been going pretty much as normal. Kids are getting sick despite wearing masks. We are forcing healthy children home for exposure, despite them wearing masks,” Jensen continued.
The mother further noted that, although they wear masks, children in the district are being segregated by vaccination and religious exemption status.
“So I ask you, if masks work, why don’t they?” Jensen queried. Many in the audience cheered in response.
“Here are the facts. They are available to any one of you. Over the course of the pandemic, 49,000 children have died of all causes; 331 of those were COVID-related. Yet we have turned kids’ lives upside down at school for what is essentially a non-risk.”
Jensen said accidents, suicide, homicide, cancer and heart disease took more children’s lives last year than COVID-19 did.
“Do we even address the growing incidences of suicide during the pandemic? No! We play politics with kids’ faces by placing restrictive fabric over their noses and mouths that the CDC itself has said don’t do anything,” she said.
“We have turned kids’ lives upside down for what is essentially a non-risk. . . We play politics with kids’ faces.” — Merianne Jensen
I was proud to stand with Prince William County parents and teachers last night as they took their fight to the school board.
— Jeanine Lawson (@JeanineLawsonVA) February 3, 2022
“This is asinine! This is blatant political theater, and it needs to end.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an update last month saying cloth masks offer the least protection against COVID-19 transmission, while well-fitted surgical masks are significantly superior.
Jensen went on to recount that she met with Superintendent LaTanya McDade in November about ending the mask mandate in the district.
At the time, she said, McDade told Jensen her hands were tied because of then-Gov. Ralph Northam’s statewide mask mandate issued before the start of the school year.
“Things are different,” Jensen pointed out in reference to Youngkin assuming the governorship last month and ending the mask mandate. Once again, many in the audience cheered.
“What do you plan on doing now that your hands are untied?” she asked McDade.
“You are on the losing side of history, and it’s time to make that right,” Jensen concluded.
On Friday, an Arlington judge barred enforcement of Youngkin’s order until the school districts’ lawsuit makes its way through the court system, The Washington Post reported.
Days later, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected a petition brought by parents seeking to invalidate the order.
A version of this article originally appeared on Patriot Project.
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