LETTER: School District finally gets its right on masks

The Clark County School District is much maligned — and justifiably so — for the educational deficit suffered by students, but this time the district got it right. The Review-Journal reported last week that the district has no mask mandate in place for employees for the upcoming school term, because it “has not been necessary.”

The decision to forgo mandatory masks is a welcome benefit to our students. It may ease the teacher shortage and open the door to the prospect of an environment in which learning, rather than fear of COVID, is the focus.

Beyond this, by asking the question “Is it necessary?” the district has sailed into uncharted waters in the annals of COVID response.

Rarely — if ever — have the COVID response mandators asked that foundational question. The approach has more commonly been a hysterical, “We must do something, even if it is wrong.”

The lack of knowledge of and experience with COVID made past mistakes understandable. But we have learned much. Dr. Anthony Fauci caught COVID despite wearing so many masks that his face looked like an overstuffed sofa in grandma’s living room. President Joe Biden caught COVID despite the fact that he has been poked with so many vaccine shots that his arms probably look like those of a junkie.

Dr. Fauci, Mr. Biden and the vast majority of the infected have survived COVID. Any students who catch COVID will probably survive it, too — just as they survive the flu. And unlike the past few years, they might learn something at school.