Md. House GOP Members Press For End To School Mask Mandate

Maryland State House Republicans want to accelerate the lifting of a mask requirement in schools.

The state Board of Education is allowing local school systems to consider what are termed off-ramps, taking into account local rates of COVID-19 rates and vaccination.

The House GOP has written a letter to the State Superintendent stating that current guidelines are not grounded in science, and that the mask requirement is causing “untold damage to our children’s cognitive development and their emotional wellbeing.”

The letter states as follows:

“The damage that covering faces does to the development of children is something that we will not fully grasp for many years to come. However, there are early indications that masking negatively impacts cognitive development as well as emotional wellbeing – neither of which should be sacrificed for a mitigation measure that provides no true health benefit for those children. The House Republican Caucus requests that the Maryland Board of Education immediately rescind the policy requiring face coverings of all students in public schools, including the elimination or modification of all three of the “off-ramps.” The guidelines are not grounded in science, and they are causing untold damage to our children’s cognitive development and their emotional wellbeing.”