On Tuesday, Israeli schoolchildren erupted in cheers when they were told by their teacher that they could remove their masks. The teacher told them, “I want to inform you that the government has ruled that from today you no longer need a mask.”
The moment the teacher tells her pupils that as of now no more masks are required in the State of Israel.
— Rick Smol (@RickSmol) June 15, 2021
“Children headed to school and adults to work without masks for the first time in more than a year,” Reuters reported. “Israelis have not had to wear masks outdoors since April. … Israel has this month logged either zero or one daily COVID-19 deaths, Health Ministry data show. New infections have been in a steady but gentle decline after a steep drop-off in February and March. The ministry said masks would still be required of unvaccinated patients or staff in medical facilities, of people en route to quarantine and of passengers on commercial flights.”
In mid-May, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Chief Medical Adviser to President Biden, stated that unvaccinated children would still have to wear masks to school in the fall of 2021.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked, “We’re getting a lot of questions, Dr. Fauci, from viewers out there who wonder what all this means for them. A serious concern being raised is for the kids, for kids who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine. What are parents and grandparents, for that matter, supposed to do to keep their unvaccinated children and grandchildren safe?”
“Okay, so, if you go back to the original CDC guideline, which says that you’re a vaccinated parent or a grandparent, and you have an unvaccinated child in the home, in the home setting, absolutely, you don’t need to wear a mask, you can have physical contact,” Fauci answered. “When the children go out into the community, either an indoor or in certain outdoor settings, they should wear a mask if they’re unvaccinated. When they ultimately get vaccinated, it will be the same as the adults.”
“You have said that elementary school kids, young kids probably won’t get vaccinated until the end of this year,” Blitzer noted. “So, should kids still be wearing masks when they go back to school this fall?”
“The answer is, first of all, the schools should be open, face-to-face, in-person classes in the fall,” Fauci replied. “We absolutely have to do that. And in those situations, if the child, which, obviously, elementary school kids are not vaccinated, they should wear a mask. And I would be — almost guarantee that most of the schools are going to say, you have to wear a mask if you’re in the school and unvaccinated.”
“So, even — so the 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-year-old kids going back to school, they’re going to spend all day with masks in their classroom?” Blitzer asked.
“It’ll be the same. There’s no change,” Fauci stressed. “That’s the point, Wolf, that — and it’s understandable why there’s some confusion. But if you analyze it step by step and situation by situation, it really is clear. The only thing that’s changed is that people who are vaccinated, fully vaccinated, can now not wear a mask, not only outdoors, but also indoors. What hasn’t changed is what’s going on for the unvaccinated group. And if the unvaccinated group of the elementary school children, nothing has really changed for them. I think that’s the thing we need to clarify.”
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Fauci’s comments were about fall 2011. They were about fall 2021.