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Tuesday, October 3, 2023 | 
Opinion Letters

Opinion: Children need to wear masks at school

The odds of a child being exposed to the COVID-19 virus at school are many times greater than a construction worker being hit by a falling object

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Barret Pritchard, 8, puts on a mask while working at a lemonade stand with his sister in Provo.

Barret Pritchard, 8, puts on a mask while working at a lemonade stand with his sister in Provo on Tuesday, July 14, 2020. When asked how he felt about wearing a mask to school, the third grader said, “I wouldn’t care, I would still be glad that I had friends.”

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

On a construction site, everyone is required to wear a hard hat. Schoolchildren too young to be vaccinated are not required to wear a mask in Salt Lake County. There are differences in these situations:

First, the odds of a child being exposed to the COVID-19 virus at school are many times greater than a construction worker being hit by a falling object.

Second, a hard hat protects only the one wearing it. A mask helps protect anyone nearby, as well as the wearer.

Dan McKnight

Salt Lake City