Oklahoma Groups Call For Stronger Safety Measures For Students In School

Several Oklahoma policy groups want the state to implement more stringent virus-related safety measures for students.

They said all districts statewide should have mask mandates and the group said “in-school quarantines” are not a good idea.

"We have to have a mask mandate to keep students and staff safe --- it's just that simple," Oklahoma Education Association President Alicia Preist said during Monday's Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy monthly virtual conference. 

Priest is one of the founding members of the Oklahoma MASK Coalition. The group – Masks Are Saving Kids (MASK) – was organized by the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy. Priest said the state board of education should have a statewide mask policy. She also said it's too soon to go back to class in-person. 

"I think you have to look at what the numbers are in our areas,” Priest said. “We have to focus on the science and pieces of it and not just what we want to do.” 

Health experts also stressed they support having kids learn in school and feel like wearing masks are a big part of that process. Doctor Dwight Sublett, the president of the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and another founder of the Oklahoma MASK Coalition, said he is more concerned about staff exposure. 

"Most time in children, the severity of disease is not as severe,” Sublett said. “The concerns that we have is for the person that is working with these children and for the family of the children.”

Last week, the state board of education announced the Mustang School District will be the first to test out "in-school quarantines." Dr. Sublett said that's not a good idea. 

"All you got to do is have one false negative in there who actually is positive, and then throw them in a room with 20 kids for six hours, they probably have infected a good portion of those kids. That's how contagious this virus is," Sublett said. 

Sublett also explained the distribution of upcoming COVID-19 vaccinations. He said the vaccines will be effective but will not block the virus completely. 

"But, that’s a heck of a trade off from that to the potential of being on a ventilator," Sublett said.