, March 12, leaving the decision whether to mask or not up to each district. Carlsbad Unified is one of the districts in San Diego County that is allowing students and staff to make their own individual choice. What is it like two weeks later?th
grader at Calavera Hills Middle School in Carlsbad. He is among the approximately 80% of students and staff choosing not to wear a mask. Lucas Hensen has been leaving his mask on, despite the choice. “I don’t want to get sick, I don’t want to get anyone sick” he said, explaining his decision has a lot to do with baseball. He doesn’t want to miss any games due to COVID-19, nor does he want a teammate out. “When you have one person, that can make or break a team."
According to the latest district numbers, the week before the state lifted its mask mandate, there were 19 positive COVID cases among student and staff. The first week they were given the choice, there were 22 cases. The second week there were 38. The district points out the cases are in a district of 11 thousand students and one thousand staff. Students say it is much better now than in the days of Omicron.
Is two weeks enough time to make an assessment? “The first week they were given the choice, there were 22 cases. The second week there were 38.” Seems like a substantial increase? What did the epidemiologists you interviewed say?