(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine claimed that universal masking may be a helpful tool to fight “structural racism” in schools because the pandemic deepened “educational inequalities” that disproportionately affected minorities.
The new study, entitled “Lifting Universal Masking in Schools — Covid-19 Incidence among Students and Staff,” was released last week and was conducted by researchers from Harvard University, Boston University, the Boston Public Health Commission and Massachusetts General Hospital, according to Breitbart.
The study looked at the aftermath of the state of Massachusetts lifting its universal masking policy in public schools in February. Some school districts complied and some didn’t, which allowed the researchers to compare and contrast those school districts.
The researchers concluded that lifting the statewide masking requirements was the result of a very modest increase in coronavirus cases among students and staff.
The study also said that districts that kept their masking requirements had older buildings in worse condition than the buildings in districts that lifted masking requirements. The former districts also have more students per classroom.
The districts that kept their masking requirements also had a higher percentage of many political victim groups.
“[Those districts] had higher percentages of low-income students, students with disabilities and students who were English-language learners, as well as higher percentages of Black and Latinx students and staff.”
The paper also stated that universal masking would help reduce the effects of “structural racism” without even explaining how it is going to happen.
Since leftist researchers mentioned the R-word, they also talked about the pandemic deepening “educational inequalities” for the “victims” of “settler colonialism.”
“Black, Latinx, and Indigenous children and adolescents are more likely to have had severe Covid-19, to have had a parent or caregiver die from Covid-19 and to be affected by worsening mental health and by educational disruptions than their White counterparts,” the paper said.
The researchers also said that “structural racism and racial capitalism operate through multiple pathways,” and because of that, people need to realize that racism is always the both the cause and answer to every problem.
The study decided that the “… decision in some school districts to sustain school masking policies longer may therefore reflect an understanding among parents and elected officials that structural racism is embedded in public policies and that policy decisions have the potential to rectify or reproduce health inequities.”
