This petition is organized for and by daycare parents and applies to the entire age range in daycare that is required to mask. Many children in DC and in the suburbs can and do remain in daycare until they are in their late 5s (like my daughter, who won't start kindergarten until she is 2 weeks from turning 6). Not all families choose public Pre-K 3 and 4 in DC and it's not available at all in surrounding counties.

We also chose this age cutoff because it is the one universally observed across the world and advised by the WHO. Many other countries and organizations, like the European CDC, go further and do not recommend school masking under 12.

Melanie Harris

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I’m confused about why this petition keeps saying “daycares specifically” but also using the language “under six.” In DC, children start pre-K at age three and four and then kindergarten at five, attending elementary schools across the city, and have been wearing masks for the last year. Universal masking at DC schools have kept our case rates very minimal and it works. Furthermore, during flu season, which is very bad this year in DC, masks have no doubt protected and will continue to protect children at public schools, including those under six, from the dangerous double whammy of flu and Covid.

I personally have concerns about circulating a petition like this when under fives can’t be vaccinated and DC is currently experiencing the highest rates of Covid in the nation. But regardless, I think the petition needs clarity in respect to its aims: is this about daycares, or about all children under six?