I think part of the problem with the 2-5 y/o mask requirements is that it treats that age band as one block. A two y/o has VERY different capacity to understand & comply with masking than a four y/o. Even within a year, a 24 month-old and 34 month-old are not the same!
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1439273070116671494
I don't have a good answer, and I fully understand the tension and competing interests. I'm not interested in debating mask efficacy for kids. But I do wonder if starting masks at age 3 (or 4) might better honor child development while still meeting public health goals.
(To put a fine point on it, if the guidance from U.S. health officials is to not have a 23-month-old mask, I'm hard-pressed to imagine that having a 25-month-old mask is getting us a lot)
P.S. fwiw, I say this as someone whose youngest was 3 when the pandemic started and is a kid that has never blinked twice about masking; I'm very pro-mask.
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