HARTFORD, Conn. — While Gov. Ned Lamont was delivering his State of the State address inside the State Capitol, a four-hour rally, held by parents and students demanding choice on masking of school children in schools, was occupying the Capitol grounds.
Among the people speaking was Deborah Marcus, a licensed clinical social worker, who says it's gotten to the point where some children are using masks to hide their emotions. She said one of her young patients even admitted to thoughts of suicide.
"Masks have masked, you know, their ability to show feelings, to connect with the people around them," said Lucas Johnson, the organizer of the rally, who is a senior at Ellis Tech in Danielson. "Quarantines and other things like that have stifled both educational opportunities and it's given a lot of students you know anxiety."
"It is you as an individual that have to keep yourself safe and if you don't feel comfortable with your child or your family member taking that mask off or wearing an N95 then that is fine," said another student, John Paul Peck, a sophomore at St. Bernard High School in Uncasville.
But a proponent of indoor masking remaining in place disagrees.
"When you take that mask off you're no longer representing yourself," said Joel Leyden of VaccineAngels.com. "You're now infecting the lives of people around you,"
He was confronted by a woman, who only identified herself as a doctor.
"It's sad for the children," the woman said. "There's a mental health crisis going on and you're contributing to it."
"Have you visited any ICU units in hospitals here," replied Leyden, who says he's in close contact with many doctors.
"Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children have gotten sick from COVID and they have died from COVID," Leyden said.
But, that's not true. CDC data shows there have been 940 COVID-related deaths in children ages birth to 18 in the U.S.
"It doesn't make any sense to me as a science teacher that a one micron aerosol is going to go ahead and be stopped by a mask that's got pores in it that are about 50 to 80 microns in size," said Michael Selearis, a high school science teacher.
And he says pre-pandemic, he could always tell, by looking at his students' facial expressions, if they understand what he is teaching. But with masks, they only way he really knows is how well they perform on tests.
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Tony Terzi is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at tterzi@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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