Thread by @CRBerginMD

🧵 Healthcare workers & public health professionals have born the brunt of the #COVID19 pandemic for 18 months. We also have clear expertise & personal experience in reducing transmission. And in #Arizona we are shouting from the rooftops for additional mitigation in schools. 1/

1,067 physicians, healthcare workers, & public health professionals in #MaricopaCounty sent a letter to @maricopacounty Board of Supervisors last night, imploring them to adopt a resolution requiring universal masking in K-12 schools in the county. B/c schools are in crisis. 2/

What does 1,067 HCWs advocating together look like? It looks like 28 pages of signatures, plus 8 more pages of individual comments & pleas from the heart, in addition to all of the evidence-based expert recommendations and research outlining the efficacy & safety of masks. 3/

Public health shouldn’t be political. We urge leaders to follow expert guidance from public health & medical professionals - @CDCgov @AZDHS @Maricopahealth @AmerAcadPeds @aafp @ACPinternists @ArizonaMedicine. All of these organizations strongly recommend universal masks … 4/

in K-12 schools as part of multiple simultaneous mitigation approaches - b/c of the surging highly infectious delta variant, & b/c the <12 age group (a significant portion of the student population) is still ineligible for vaccines. Unvaccinated = higher risk of infection. 5/

Per yesterday’s @Maricopahealth briefing: Children now = 27% of new Covid cases in Maricopa County and 6% of all COVID hospitalizations in the county. School outbreaks are more than doubling every single week since schools reopened in July. Hospitals/ERs are incredibly full. 6/

So THANK YOU to the 1,067 amazing HCWs who signed onto this letter with me & @3smallhumans, urging the Maricopa County BOS to act immediately to protect children, school staff, & public health by adopting a resolution requiring universal masks in K-12 schools in the county. 7/

The @maricopacounty BOS is meeting tomorrow AM; please help us call on them to add this vital issue to the agenda.🙏🏻#WEnotME #FollowTheScience #BeTheChange
@stephanieinnes @kylegriffin1 @NicoleSGrigg @azpmnews @cronkitenews @azcentral @washingtonpost

Full letter text linked here:
form.jotform.com/212285936907162

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