ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Illinois is the latest state to announce an end to public mask mandates. However, the change won't effect schools as there's an ongoing legal battle about forcing students and teachers to wear masks.
It's an issue the Charlie Brennan Show with Amy Marxkors talked about with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett.
"Welcome to the very, very dicey politics of the pandemic," Garrett says.
He noted the previous research that shows important developmental social skills are diminished in children who have to hide their faces from classmates.
"It's not my field, obviously, but I try to read as much about it as I can," Garrett says. "I have several friends who have young children who've gone to school with masks and they've grown completely comfortable with that. And so the idea of going off and on for masks is now more confusing and strange and unsettling to them than just having a mask because they've gotten used to it. So now we're sort of in a space of what is the best thing for the children?Which is what we always strive to achieve, and particularly every politician wants to be emphasizing that. I honestly don't know ... But for young children, if you're accustomed to it now and it goes sort of red light, green light, on mask, off mask, that can be confusing, destabilizing. It's a very, very tough place to be."
You can hear the full conversation with Garrett at the top of this page.
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