A school board member in Oklahoma stated Monday in a meeting that she fears small children might “murder” each other if they do not wear masks while attending school.
Linda Sexton, a school board member for Norman Public Schools, fears that without masks, children will spread the coronavirus and kill each other, Fox News reported. “It’s just not OK for kids to commit murder by coming to school without a mask,” Sexton said. “And when it comes down to it, it’s possible. They will cause a death of another child because they come to school without a mask. That’s not OK.”
Kids could ‘commit murder’ by not wearing masks in school, Oklahoma school board member sayshttps://t.co/Ka3QVqelrr
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 10, 2021
Sexton urged her school district to defy Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has stated he will not impose a mask mandate for children returning to school this fall, according to Fox News. Stitt passed a law in May forbidding school districts to order mask mandates unless there has been a state of emergency declared by the governor in their area. (RELATED: How Likely Are Vaccinated People To Get Meaningfully Sick From Delta?)
“I would like to try to find a way to stand up as a district,” Sexton reportedly continued, “and get our surrounding superintendents to stand up with us, and protect our little kids. It’s insane to send 5- and 6- and 7- and 8- – all the way up through 11-year-olds – that don’t have a choice about vaccine.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that school-aged children can spread COVID-19 and are typically asymptomatic when they contract it. Also, while children are less likely to develop a severe illness or die from COVID, it can still happen. A CDC briefing noted that the National Center for Health Statistics reported 271 deaths related to COVID for people between ages 5-17 years.