It’s welcome news that Washington, D.C., is dropping its indoor mask mandate in most places, but it’s beyond cruel at this point that the one group that is left out of this easing of policies will be schoolchildren. As I have written before, no segment of the population has sacrificed more relative to the risk Covid presents to them than children have. At this stage, there is no conceivable argument for forcing children to remain masked all day, a practice that has always been questionable, but remains even less defensible at a time when cases have plummeted and vaccines are broadly available enough to have ditched the mandate in other indoor spaces.

As of March 1, people will be able to go into crowded  bars, restaurants, sporting events, and a host of other places without being forced to wear masks. But schoolchildren will be forced to wear them all day despite the growing consensus that this practice is doing more harm than good.

On March 1, masks will continue to be required at a number of locations, including schools. pic.twitter.com/c8Fwfy15sk

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) February 14, 2022