FACT-CHECK: N95 Mask Policy For 3rd Graders?

Time for a Fact-Check!

You might be happy to find out this one is likely not true.

Yesterday, we brought you a story of a D.C. area Elementary School requiring N95 masks for 3rd Graders and above.

The story was sourced by Tweets from Outkick founder Clay Travis and Kyle Becker, not to mention an article from Fox News.

It appears, however, that the story was a fake.

So we’re now here to correct the record.

Credit to Richard Citizen Journalist who just posted this on Telegram:

We checked the school website too and it does appear to only go through 2nd Grade.

Apparently, the letter was faked deliberately to refer to “3rd grade and up” which does not exist at this school according to this page of its website:

Our original report with original Tweets and FoxNews source is below.

Elementary School Reinforces N95 Mask Policy For 3rd Graders

As the 2024 election inches closer and closer, it appears COVID-19 protocols are making a comeback in some states.

An elementary school in Maryland has reinstated a mask policy for third graders after a handful of students tested positive for COVID-19.

Clay Travis broke the story and posted on X “A DC area elementary school — Montgomery County, Maryland — is reinstating a mask mandate — N95’s — for third-graders over a few kids testing positive for COVID.”

Travis also shared a letter from the principal at Rosemary Hills Elementary School which stated “Additional N95 masks have been distributed and students and staff in identified classes or activities will be required to mask while in school for the next 10 days, except while eating or drinking.”

A DC area elementary school — Montgomery County, Maryland — is reinstating a mask mandate — N95’s — for third graders over a few kids testing positive for covid. Here’s the letter. They’re coming with masks for your kids again. Get ready. Read this insanity. pic.twitter.com/LZs4N19XLL

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 5, 2023

This just in: A DC area elementary school in Maryland is reinstating MASK MANDATES for third graders.

The elementary school is mandating N95 masks — not designed to be worn by the general public for extended periods of time — after a few kids tested positive for Covid. Insanity. pic.twitter.com/Z1cbZDuGdY

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) September 5, 2023

Here’s what Fox News reported:

An elementary school in a Washington D.C. suburb in Maryland is reinstating school masks for third-graders, after a handful of kids recently tested positive for COVID-19.

In a now-viral X post, OutKick founder Clay Travis posted a letter that was allegedly sent to all parents at Rosemary Hills Elementary School in Montgomery County, updating them on updated mask requirements for all students.

“A DC area elementary school — Montgomery County, Maryland — is reinstating a mask mandate — N95’s — for third-graders over a few kids testing positive for COVID,” Travis wrote on X. “Here’s the letter. They’re coming with masks for your kids again. Get ready. Read this insanity.”

The letter, addressed to parents of students in one specific classroom, informs parents that “3 or more individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in [redacted] class in the past 10 days. We are taking the following steps to keep our school environment as safe as possible for in-person teaching and learning.”

School Principal Rebecca Irwin Kennedy continues to say that the N95 mask requirements come “to prevent further transmission” in that classroom for the next 10 days.

“Additional N95 masks have been distributed and students and staff in identified classes or activities will be required to mask while in school for the next 10 days, except while eating or drinking,” Kennedy wrote. “Masks will become optional again following the 10-day period.”

A DC area elementary school — Montgomery County, Maryland — is reinstating a mask mandate — N95’s — for third graders over a few kids testing positive for covid. Here’s the letter. They’re coming with masks for your kids Again. pic.twitter.com/nnsJiVpNdg

— 𝕽𝖎𝖈𝖐 𝕬𝖓𝖆𝖓𝖉🦅🇺🇸 (@rsanandin) September 5, 2023

The Washington Examiner had these details to add:

Here’s a little history from my former county: In fall 2020, Montgomery County, Maryland, barred all in-person learning in public schools, tried to bar all in-person learning in non-public schools, and attacked as “arrogant” and dangerous those non-public schools that fought to stay open.

In fall 2021, Montgomery County allowed children to go to school with their classmates, but it implemented a draconian quarantine rule: Any child who showed a single symptom of COVID-19 (including exhaustion or a headache) was sent home for 10 days, along with all of his close contacts.

“Anything you feel … except absolutely perfect, you have to go home,” County Executive Marc Elrich said.

In early 2022, the county continued to mandate masks on children despite admitting that children wearing masks made no difference. The county kept stricter quarantine rules for young children after abandoning them for older students. Also in 2022, the county executive tried to mandate vaccination for children if they wanted to go to nature centers or museums in the county.