NWA EDITORIAL: Unmasking a bad law

Patrons walk Saturday, April 3, 2021, while visiting the Fayetteville Farmers' Market on the Fayetteville downtown square. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
Patrons walk Saturday, April 3, 2021, while visiting the Fayetteville Farmers' Market on the Fayetteville downtown square. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)

Every day that passes brings into stark relief the folly of Act 1002, passed by an overzealous Arkansas General Assembly this spring. It was signed by a practical, yet dispirited, lame-duck governor who, if he didn't agree with it, no longer had the political muscle to stop it.

Act 1002, which takes effect Wednesday, prohibits public schools and other government institutions from requiring masks be worn in their buildings. Lawmakers -- or at least enough of them to make the measure veto-proof -- decided they knew best how to get the world "back to normal" in the wake of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Back when Act 1002 was just an ill-advised bill, covid-19 infection rates were dropping, vaccines had become available for those who wanted them and the economy was rebounding. So, to them, it seemed only "logical" to ban one of the key practices that helped mitigate the deadly and debilitating effects of the virus.

Of course, logic had nothing to do with it. The law was a completely hollow political sop to people who were tired of masks or thought the whole "coronavirus thing" was, at best, overblown, or, at worst, a liberal hoax.

Tell that to the loved ones of the more than 600,000 Americans killed by covid-19. We note that more than 6,000 of your Arkansas friends and neighbors are among the dead.

If we as a state and nation have learned anything in the past six weeks, it's that coronavirus is still with us and that it's no hoax. It will not simply disappear as so many foolishly thought it would. In fact, its variants have gotten more efficient at killing us. Experts (the ones with lab coats and advanced degrees, not the college dropouts sitting in their mother's basement with a cellphone and good WiFi) tell us the delta variant is nastier than the predecessor that burned across the country beginning in the winter of 2020.

Initially, covid-19 devastated mostly older populations and groups of people with other chronic health concerns. Younger, healthy adults and children were still susceptible to it, but it didn't seem to make them as sick. There were, of course, tragic exceptions.

The delta variant, the data indicates, is more contagious than its predecessor and attacks younger, healthier people more often. Doctors tell us the people rapidly filling covid-19 hospital wards and morgues are far younger than those who were afflicted with it 15 months ago. Estimates indicated more than 80% of the state's new cases derived from delta variant.

Another sobering statistic is that this year, for the first time since World War II, life expectancy in the U.S. dropped. And it didn't drop just a little. It fell by 1.5 years, from 78.8 years to 77.3. It doesn't take a lab-coated virologist to deduce that something is killing Americans at an uncommon rate. A study from the Centers for Disease Control estimates covid-19 accounts for 74% of the decline.


Is the coronavirus pandemic overblown? Hardly. In fact, legislation like Act 1002 and the inexplicably low rates of vaccination indicate that far too many of us still don't get it. The world is not yet back to normal. Far from it. If you don't believe us, ask your doctor, or a health care professional, or a friend or family member who has direct experience with this blasted disease.

Yet lawmakers in Arkansas are whistling past the graveyard.

This time last summer, apprehensions were high about sending students back to school. Schools had closed in March 2020 and only reconvened for the rest of that school year via digital platforms. That shift was sudden, chaotic and universally unpopular, not to mention not particularly effective. But it was the safest, most responsible course at the time.

Educators knew then getting kids back into a school environment as soon as possible was critical for learning. The long-term cost to children who don't learn to read and write at a young age is immense. But educators also took seriously their responsibility to keep their students -- and themselves -- safe and healthy. Vaccines were still months away, and covid was still raging.

As the 2020 Arkansas summer wore on, state officials, local educators and parents examined myriad ways to teach children safely. Where other states simply shuttered schools and attempted to teach online, Arkansas found ways to get the school doors open while providing digital learning options for families who wanted them.

A critical component of that plan was requiring students, teachers and staff who came to school to wear masks. Both science and common sense tells the world masks mitigated the spread of the coronavirus (and, frankly, other less virulent illnesses). While masks couldn't guarantee the bug wouldn't be spread, it greatly reduced the likelihood.

Schools also had strict policies about sending home students, staff and faculty who came down with the coronavirus or came in close contact with someone who had. Schools kept them away until the threat of spreading the virus passed. They prepared to "pivot" students and, if necessary, entire classrooms to online learning temporarily until the quarantine period elapsed.

Still, as the 2020-2021 school year approached, countless Arkansans expected schools to close again within weeks.

They didn't. They remained open all year. There were plenty of quarantines, lots of pivots and some schools had to shut down for short periods of time (mostly due to quarantines among faculty). But the school year came and went without mass closings. That in and of itself is remarkable when you consider where the country was last fall.

Mask requirements played a significant role in that success.


That tool is, sadly and perhaps tragically, unavailable now. The quarantines, the contact tracing, the "pivots" still are. That will help.

And of course, the factor that helps the most is the availability of vaccines, which have proven to be effective in mitigating the spread and symptoms of covid-19, even the delta variant.

There has been a glint of hope on the vaccine front in recent days, with the state showing a slight increase in distribution. There have even been a few conservative commentators joining the vaccination chorus. That's good news, too.

However, Arkansas (as well as Missouri and the deep South) remains woefully behind the curve.

Let's also remember that almost no elementary school student in Arkansas has been vaccinated against covid-19. The doses are not yet approved for children under 12. Without masks, those students' only protection from community spread at school will come from vaccinated and/or masked faculty and staff.

Let's be clear. We don't advocate that all schools require masks. That's a decision best left to the individual school districts, especially as they respond to how the virus is spreading in their communities. Act 1002 removes that flexibility. It is, borrowing an overused phrase from the conservative political playbook, a significant government over-reach into the business of local communities.

In the current political environment, admitting a mistake and correcting it is an unpardonable sin. But this isn't about politics. It's about health, safety and education. The Legislature will be back in session soon (groan) to attend to some unfinished business. It should stop the damage Act 1002 will wreak and give local schools the freedom to do what is in the best interests of their students and employees.

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What’s the point?

Act 1002 removes a vital tool school districts can use to keep students, teachers and staff safe from coronavirus. The Legislature should give it back.

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