REAL CONCERNED PARENTS 

Boston Parents Demand Mask Mandates Return

By Luca Cacciatore | Friday, 16 December 2022 
(Newsmax/"John Bachman Now")

With flu season in full effect, a group of Boston parents demonstrated Wednesday, pushing for schools to bring back mask mandates and COVID-19 testing, Daily Mail reported.

"Today, this morning, my daughter tested positive for COVID," said Sulieka Soto, a parent of a child attending Boston Public Schools, adding that after students return from Christmas break, there "has to be something like a mandate for people to follow it."

Also a BPS nurse, Soto accused education officials of "leaving the community vulnerable to further sickness and deaths" by not preparing to reintroduce masks after the holidays like other cities, including Philadelphia.

Her group, BPS Families for COVID Safety, has organized 200 signatures to demand a 10-day mask mandate and PCR testing for Boston students and school staff, citing a jump in cases of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, commonly known as RSV.

"The health commission makes it clear that masking and other similar strategies in the school can offset the effects of structural racism in our health care system," Soto said. "As school nurses, we are committed to the fight against racism, which is one of the main reasons we have passed this resolution."

A BPS spokesperson told NBC 10 Boston in a statement that the district is watching COVID-19 rates closely and has continued to meet with experts "daily" about how best to respond.

"Student safety is paramount at Boston Public Schools," the statement read. "We continue to meet daily with the Boston Public Health Commission to review the latest BPS data and make informed decisions regarding our COVID-19 protocols."