Posted on 09/19/2022 9:57:22 AM PDT by lightman
A federal program called Head Start that serves hundreds of thousands of young children will soon stop requiring masks.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, which runs the program, announced on Sept. 16 that it is planning to publish a rule that will rescind its mask mandate.
“This will align Head Start program masking requirements more closely with the updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance,” the administration said in an announcement.
The change will happen “in the near future,” according to the administration. Officials have declined to give an exact date.
The National Head Start Association (NHSA), which has been calling on the government for months to roll back the mask requirement, said the announcement “finally gives us the clarity we have been seeking.”
“It will go a long way to allow programs to do what they do best in a safe, healthy, and community-driven manner,” the group said. ‘Disruptive’
Based on instructions from President Joe Biden, Head Start in 2021 imposed a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on all staff members and many contractors and volunteers. It also implemented a mask mandate for all staff and children, with exemptions for children under 2 years old.
The NHSA told Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Biden appointee, in July that the policy “has been and continues to be extremely disruptive to the Head Start community,” including leading to many employees leaving and parents removing children.
Local officials were best equipped to make decisions on mandates, the group said.
Some lawmakers had also spoken out against the mandates.
“Mandating masking of children is not in line with public health principles and risks significant emotional and physical harm,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, said in a letter to Becerra earlier this month.
Federal officials told administrators in February that the mask requirement would not be enforced and reiterated as much in August, a Health and Human Services spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email before the new announcement.
The administration acknowledged the CDC’s recommendations “have evolved” since the interim final rule was issued and officials “will take into consideration the over 2,700 public comments it received, the updated CDC recommendations, the recent approval of vaccinations for young children, and the health and safety of Head Start children and families in the ongoing development of program guidance and regulation,” the spokesperson added.
The CDC changed its masking guidance in February and recently published another update to COVID-19 recommendations.
Better idea: Can “head-start” completely.
Should never has existed in the first place.
Now how about opening the borders to unvaxxed visitors who want to visit legally.
The election is coming time to take the actions that should have been taken in 2020. (Or never implemented at all).
ah, come on. We wanted to wear masks for life. We have gotten so accustomed to hiding our true identiy behind masks.. a Biblical term in the Bible called HYPOCRISY.
As he did the day before the State Of The Union Address, a miracle. Would have been bad optics with all the masks on, so, Presto! Not necessary!
The internal polls must show the dems getting creamed in the suburbs
But it is such a nice free baby sitting program for the permanently lazy and unemployed
The science is clear:
No mask mandate before an election or voters will be reminded of how democrats ruined their families lives.
lowering the price of gas faster than anyone has ever lowered it, ending the pandemic faster than any president before him, now ending mask mandates and keeping fascists out of our elections... biden is sure to get reelected.
Listening to CDC Guidance? Isn’t this how all this buffoonery got started in the first place?
Screw the CDC and their guidance.
Nobody should be fooled by this jack-butt’s handlers.
Here’s the deal. The current “state of emergency” is up for renewal in mid-October and in mid-August they said they wouldn’t end it without giving at least 60 days notice.
So 59 days before it would be up they rolled poopy pants out there to declare the pandemic as “over”—without having given notice by the day before.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/17/hhs-covid-health-emergency-00052509
Not to mention that brandon just proclaimed the pandemic is over.
It’s been over in my state for close to a year now......and probably would have been over even sooner if that idiot hadn’t restricted access to monoclonal antibody drugs.
Most of the Head Start children are at the same mental development as our so called president.
Are they telling me I don’t have to wear my - “This Mask is as Useless as Joe Biden” - anymore?
Well now, we’ll see about that.
These little kids are totally brainwashed, forbidden to ever take their masks off! Conditioned to think they will die! Or scare others to near death! It is going to take a lot more then just removing the masks to reverse 2+ yrs of damage done to these innocent children.
The children are almost all latino here.
The administration acknowledged the CDC’s recommendations “have evolved” since the interim final rule was issued and officials “will take into consideration the over 2,700 public comments it received, the updated CDC recommendations, the recent approval of vaccinations for young children, and the health and safety of Head Start children and families in the ongoing development of program guidance and regulation”...
—
.. and the mid-term elections coming up.
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