Hundreds of Ohio physicians call for universal masking in schools

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - More than 400 southwest Ohio physicians are urging area school districts to implement a universal masking policy if the schools haven’t already.

The letter started as a grassroots effort on a private social media group for Cincinnati-area physician mothers.

Within 72 hours, Dr. Hilja Ruegg at UC Health says more than 450 physicians signed the letter encouraging masks in the classroom.

The start of the new school year brought many students back to the classroom for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began around March 2020.

The letter signed by 468 physicians says schools reopening without universal masking and other mitigation efforts will see “high levels of transmission and infection in kids.”

The answer, as the physicians wrote, is for all schools to require masks.

“The science supports masks in schools,” the letter reads.

Some districts started the 2021-22 school year with mask recommendations, not mandates.

Over the first month or so of the school year, many districts have pivoted from recommendations to mask mandates.

Two recent examples are the Diocese of Covington and Lebanon City Schools which now require masks in school. The two districts started the year with no such requirement.

The letter ends with the physicians urging any school district without a masking mandate to reconsider and implement a universal policy.

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