DV Journal

The San Diego School District has announced a return of indoor mask mandates, and Los Angeles County may do the same. President Joe Biden’s COVID coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha is urging communities to consider returning to COVID-era restrictions.

But polls show most Americans have simply moved on. After two years at the top of the nation’s list of concerns, COVID-19 regularly polls at the bottom in the low single digits.

However, public health officials warn COVID-19’s impact  is far from over, particularly for the millions who suffer from what is known as “long COVID.” What is it?

It depends on who you ask.

A pounding heart when simply getting off the couch, difficulty concentrating, difficulty breathing, chest pain, and ongoing fatigue are just a handful of persistent symptoms of long COVID — scientifically known as Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“There is no agreement on how to define and diagnose long COVID,” writes Heidi Ledford at Nature. “The World Health Organization’s attempt at a consensus, published in 2021, has not proved popular with patient advocates or researchers, and studies continue to use a range of criteria to define the condition.”

Dr. Alba Azola, Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins Medicine, says the inability of health professionals to settle on a definition is hurting efforts to treat it.

“It becomes very challenging at times to be able to support these claims,” Azola said. “I think advocacy regarding understanding the syndrome, the knowledge that we have so far, and the limitations when it comes to certain medical testing is important.”

Long COVID is a problem that is not going away, health experts say. According to the CDC, 60 percent of the U.S. population and 75 percent of children have been infected with COVID-19.

The American Academy of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation (AAPMR) recently released new guidelines for treating the impacts of long COVID. They also urged government and healthcare systems to prepare for the long-lasting consequences affecting people, according to Steven Flanagan, Rehabilitation Medicine Department Chair at New York University Langone Health.

“These are folks that can’t go back to work in the same capacity that they were doing before they became sick with COVID-19 and developed long COVID,” Flanagan said. “We are trying to take the ‘dis’ out of ‘disability.’ We can work with employers and school systems to get folks back, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”

With the unclear definition comes less-than-solid numbers of long COVID’s reach. An estimated 8 to 26 million Americans have experienced or are currently experiencing at least one symptom of long COVID, according to the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Long COVID Dashboard. Estimates that between 5 and 50 percent of COVID cases will lead to long COVID are so vague they tend to undermine trust in the analysis and make it harder to get public officials to commit to taking action, public health advocates say.

Two significant debates continue to rage over long COVID: Is the syndrome connected to the severity of the original “acute” case, and do vaccinations help prevent its onset?

Some studies have found no correlation between how badly COVID symptoms hit and the likelihood of suffering from long COVID later.

Others, like Dr. Jonathan Whiteson of New York University’s Langone Health Center, say there is some correlation, but it is hardly 100 percent.

“We are seeing many people who had mild symptoms and were never hospitalized in the acute phase develop cardiovascular disorders,” Whiteson said. “Up to 4 percent of individuals who had mild disease have had a stroke or myocardial infarction in the post-acute stage. This is very significant.”

Symptoms of long COVID aren’t just reserved for older individuals, but have also been found in school-age children and adolescents, Whiteson said.

“Because of the uniqueness of this virus, we are projecting that cardiovascular disease could affect a much younger population,” Whiteson said. “Just like diabetes is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, COVID-19 could be one too.”

As for the impact of vaccinations, Whiteson also sees a correlation.

“When we look into the long COVID period—three to six months out—we are seeing in those people who are unvaccinated more significant cardiovascular consequences and disability,” Whiteson said. “Again, it is an important call to action to get the message out there that vaccinations reduce the risk of severe disease, reduce the risk of hospitalization, and do have a long-term positive impact.”

But a recent study conducted by VA St. Louis Healthcare System, which examined 13 million cases, found the vaccine reduced the risk of long COVID only by 15 percent, substantially less than other estimates.

Currently, 41 post-COVID-19 clinics collaborate with the American Academy of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation as well as practitioners from multiple other healthcare disciplines.

In Ann Arbor, Mich., Dr. James Neuenschwander treats children and adults with complex, chronic health problems who have not responded to conventional therapies. While a handful of his patients suffer from long COVID, Neuenschwander also treats patients with vaccine injury. He said the symptoms for both are very similar. One symptom is myocarditis — an inflammation of the heart muscle reported as a symptom of long COVID and a possible complication of the vaccine by the CDC.

“We know that both COVID-19 and the vaccine can activate or reactivate an autoimmune disease,’ Neuenschwander said.

In addition to releasing a guide on cardiovascular complications, the American Academy of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation has released guides on fatigue, breathing discomfort, and cognitive symptoms.

According to the AAPMR, there is not a one size fits all approach to treating patients. Each treatment plan should be individually tailored.

“I think we’re in a state right now where there’s recognition that long COVID is real—it’s not just patients being anxious. It’s a real condition,” Flanagan said.

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It is summertime and many Delaware Valley families are heading to the New Jersey shore to spend a week or two enjoying the sun and sand.

However, when the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration had the state locked down. Some 88 percent of Pennsylvania residents canceled their vacations.

But not the Fettermans.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, The Washington Free Beacon reports, spent a week at the Jersey shore with his family despite his own advice to other Pennsylvania residents to stay in quarantine and wear their masks. Fetterman supported Gov. Tom Wolf’s statewide shutdowns. 

Even as Thanksgiving approached in 2020, Fetterman and the Wolf administration were asking residents to wear a mask, social distance, and not travel.

And Fetterman, now running for the U.S. Senate, was protected by a State Police security detail that kept him and his family safe while they were in Ocean City, N.J. The state paid $3,500 for the officers’ overtime, food, and lodging.

“Apparently rules don’t apply to John Fetterman, even when Fetterman champions them himself. While Pennsylvanians had their freedoms trampled and their lives crippled by COVID lockdowns and school closures under John Fetterman’s watch, Fetterman showed he can’t be trusted to do what’s right. Pennsylvanians can see right through his hypocrisy,” said Brittany Yanick, communications director for Dr. Oz for Senate.

Fetterman’s campaign declined to comment.

However, Fetterman campaign spokesman Joe Calvello told The Free Beacon that Alleghany County was not in lockdown at the time. And, he said, Fetterman has never claimed reimbursement for travel expenses and that he cut expenses for the lieutenant governor’s office during his tenure.

“John and his family do take modest summer vacations like many folks in Pennsylvania,” Calvello said.

Fetterman, who has been taking time off from the campaign trail to recover from a stroke, is expected to attend a private fundraising event in Montgomery County on July 21.

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I recently survived what may become a rite of passage for most Americans– COVID-19.

Yes, Virginia, I am vaccinated and boosted but nonetheless caught the dreaded illness. Cases in the Delaware Valley have been increasing, so chances of encountering the virus are also rising.

Luckily for me, I contracted one of the Omicron variants rather than the original strain, which killed so many.  At last count, more than 1 million U.S. residents have died of the disease since it crossed over from China and began its deadly spread in early 2020. Nearly everyone, it seems, knows someone who died from COVID.

For two days, I had a sinus headache and felt tired.  I chalked it up to the extremely high pollen count, triggering allergies.

The third morning I woke up knowing something was definitely wrong. My headache was worse, I was achy, running a fever, congested, and sneezing. My throat hurt. And the lethargy. What can I say?  I could barely move.

Was it a bad cold, influenza, or COVID?  We had some instant tests, and I used one.

After 15 endless minutes, I knew the results.

The dreaded double lines appeared that indicated a COVID positive test.

I called my doctor, who was very reassuring, and set up a telemedicine visit.

I sat down in from of my smartphone, she took one look at me and said, “Well, you definitely look sick.”

Great.

At this point in the pandemic, my doctor told me, her patients are doing well on an anti-viral medication, and, if I took it, I would have a 90 percent chance of not being hospitalized. I liked those odds.  It had one downside, a terrible taste in my mouth for hours after swallowing the pills.

I had planned to do some tasks for work that day and decided to go ahead and try to get those done. COVID had other ideas.

After accomplishing little for a couple of hours, I gave in, left my home office, went to the guest bedroom, and laid down. I “rested” for three days.

Tea, chicken soup, books, and my iPad kept me company.  I also said a few prayers and am thankful for my family and friends who also prayed for me. My dog checked on me often, probably wondering why Mommy wasn’t playing ball or taking her to the park.

On the fourth day, the medication began to kick in, and I started to feel better. By the fifth day, it was like a curtain lifted. Suddenly, I felt like myself again.

I kept to the doctor’s rules: self-isolating for five days, followed by wearing a mask around other people for another five days. So far, my husband has not succumbed.

When I think of how ill some people I knew were when COVID first hit–including a friend’s brother who was placed on a ventilator (he survived) — I feel lucky. Lucky that I caught a milder version of the killer virus.  And lucky there is now an easily prescribed treatment.

More and more, people tell me they’ve caught COVID twice.  It’s become another bug we have to live with, like colds and the flu, as the pandemic becomes endemic.  And life goes on.

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The state Senate Transportation Committee recently met at the SEPTA headquarters in Philadelphia to study its challenges up close and personal.

“It doesn’t take much for you to see firsthand when you come to visit Southeast Pennsylvania, how important SEPTA is,” said Jenny Louwerse, Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Transportation at PennDOT. It’s also not difficult to see first-hand the problems that are putting so much stress on the system.

“Violent crime, COVID-19 impacts, homelessness, illegal drug use, mental illness, and just an overall indecency for humankind are destabilizing the sustainability and future of the nation’s sixth largest mass transit system. We must not allow this to continue to plague our commonwealth,” said state Sen. Wayne Langerholc (R-Bedford/Cambria/Clearfield).

Serving both downtown Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, fixing SEPTA is a bipartisan concern.

“[Our region produces] 42 percent of the economic activity with 32 percent of our population in the commonwealth and only 5 percent of the land. This dense region cannot function without high capacity mass transit,” Louwerse said.

Safety and cleanliness top the riding public’s concerns. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, ridership has plunged. Now over two years into this pandemic, the number of riders using transit is only 53 percent of what it was prior to the outbreak. The regional rail lines have only reached 44 percent of their pre-pandemic levels.

Declining riders means lost revenue, and that is particularly problematic for a system that already relies heavily on taxpayer subsidies.

Currently, 49 percent of SEPTA’s operating budget comes from state taxpayers—almost double the average among transit systems nationally. In addition, 60 percent of SEPTA’s capital budget (i.e., funding for infrastructure improvement and new trains and buses) comes from the state.

Most of that funding does not come directly from taxes—though both the sales tax and lottery revenue subsidize transit systems. Rather, more than $925 million in driver charges, including turnpike tolls and vehicle fees, are diverted to transit agencies, primarily SEPTA, according to the Commonwealth Foundation, a free market think tank.

 Compounding the ridership issue is the fear of crime that many residents have. With Philadelphia now leading the nation in crime, the issue has likely had a “trickle-down” effect on SEPTA, one resident pointed out.

Several recent incidents that drew national attention have not helped, including rapes and attacks by groups of teenagers on Asian students riding home from school on the subway.

To make matters worse, the number of officers policing SEPTA has been reduced dramatically in recent years.

“SEPTA’s police department is budgeted for 260 sworn officers, but as I see here right now our police department outreach was fewer than 160 patrol officers,” explained Omari Bervine, president and CEO of the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109. 

 SEPTA has struggled to employ enough transit officers in recent years, in large part because of lack of benefits and protections offered. Transit workers have been among the demographics most heavily impacted by the pandemic.

“As long as SEPTA is permitted to treat its transit police officers in this manner, it will continue to lose talented officers to the departments that treat them fairly and with the dignity they deserve,” continued Bervine. Many residents fear that opens the door for crime. Even with the strained relations between police and citizens recently, many riders feel the availability of transit police is critical to their safety.

SEPTA is trying to address those concerns.

“We have a commitment to safety that is unwavering and we have increased spending in this year’s budget by 50 percent…. That is a total of $53 million dollars that will be spent on safety and security this year,” Louwerse said.

“If we can not convince the public that their system is safe then the entire system is doomed to fail,” Bervine said.

Legionnaires’ disease is on the rise across the country but especially in Pennsylvania, with the commonwealth showing some of the highest rates of infection and illness year after year, according to state and federal data.

The most recent case was reported in nearby Luzerne County, just a few months after the Pennsylvania Department of Health issued its own advisory, warning about the potential risk of Legionnaires’ disease.

Pennsylvania had exceptionally high case counts in 2017, 2018, and 2019, according to the department, although the number of cases has been low since COVID-19 arrived, largely because mask wearing protects individuals from both Legionnaires’ disease and COVID-19.

With fewer people wearing masks, cases are expected to spike once again.

Moreover, now that schools, malls, office buildings, and other communal settings that were closed during the pandemic reopen and increase occupancy, the risk for outbreaks is on the rise, as these closed buildings often reopen without checking the quality of the water inside.

Legionnaires’ disease is not spread from one person to another, but rather by breathing mist contaminated with the bacteria.

When buildings have low or no occupancy, water safety is jeopardized. Stagnant and dormant water sources allow Legionella pneumophila bacteria to grow and spread via water aerosols from faucets and showerheads; hot water tanks; cooling towers; and plumbing systems.

Other systems, like hot tubs, decorative fountains, and water features that are not well controlled or have been dormant, also pose a risk.

Like COVID, Legionnaires’ disease can impact anyone, but especially those with compromised respiratory systems, meaning the 1.3 million Pennsylvanians who have contracted and then recovered from COVID now are at heightened risk.

Many experts believe Legionnaires’ disease cases are going undetected because both Legionnaires’ disease and COVID-19 are a severe pneumonia. A recent study by the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine estimates that the true number of Legionnaires’ disease cases may be 10 times higher than what is currently reported.

Legionnaires’ disease isn’t new to Pennsylvania. Philadelphia was home to the first major outbreak in the United States in 1976, when some 200 people were sickened and nearly three dozen others died after they attended an American Legion convention at a downtown hotel.

But even today, despite the very real public health risk, Pennsylvania has no comprehensive plan or requirements for managing or testing for this deadly disease.

The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Gene Yaw of Lycoming County, is considering legislation (S.B. 1125) that would help to raise awareness about the disease while putting in place sound prevention and mitigation strategies.

The bipartisan measure, introduced by state Sens. Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) and Wayne Fontana (D-Allegheny) after a hearing in May uncovered the heightened risk, would direct both public drinking water providers and certain building owners to assess their respective water systems for risk and adopt simple mitigation measures such as flushing clean water through the system, keeping hot and cold water at appropriate temperatures, and monitoring the system regularly.

The bill would codify the seven-step industry standard, ASHRAE-188, which is backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S Veterans Administration (VA), and many other industry and professional organizations. ASHRAE-188 is currently only voluntary and not widely adopted.

If we have learned anything over the last few years, it is that it is better to act on the front end to prevent a public health crisis and the high costs associated with it rather than to wait for it to happen and then respond, especially for something as highly preventable as Legionnaires’ disease.

Better risk management and testing can prevent outbreaks, save lives and reduce medical costs by limiting exposure.

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Philadelphia is not getting any brotherly love from its Delaware Valley neighbors over its decision to bring back its COVID-19 indoor mask mandate.

“Bucks County has not, at any point during the pandemic, implemented a community mask mandate and has no plans going forward to do so,” James O’Malley, Bucks County Deputy Director of Communications told Delaware Valley Journal.

The Philadelphia Health Department announced Monday it will require masks indoors at offices, shops, restaurants, and some outdoor public spaces beginning April 18. The decision comes as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, while still low, have crept past the Philadelphia City Council’s benchmark system established earlier this year.

The collar counties surrounding the city will not be joining in.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Chester County government’s position has been that the decision to wear a mask is personal,” said Public Information Officer Rebecca Brain. “Likewise, the decision of a business or organization to require a mask of their customers or employees is personal, and not something that should be regulated by the county.”

Their language echoes Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Disease, who said Sunday, “We’re going to see that each individual is going to have to make their calculation of the amount of risk that they want to take in going to indoor dinners and in going to functions.”

O’Malley acknowledged the Bucks County Health Department tracks local data and consults with nearby hospitals to create mitigation recommendations but expects caseloads to rise and fall over time without the need for a mask mandate.

“I think at this point, with hospitalizations still very low and a high number of people having been vaccinated, we need to pivot away from mandates,” said Rep. Tracy Pennycuick, (R-Harleysville). “We have had two years of education on this disease and people need to make their own risk assessment and decide for themselves if they are going to get vaccinated and/or wear a mask. We also need to recognize that basic cloth masks that most individuals have are not nearly as protective as higher grade N95 masks anyway, so the effectiveness of a mask mandate would be limited at best.”

Across the river in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) concurred. “I’d be shocked if we put a mandate like that in place in New Jersey,” he said Monday.

And the opposition isn’t just in the suburbs. Philadelphia Councilmember Allan Domb (D-At-Large) told DVJournal he thinks the city is making a mistake.

“I’m listening to the CDC,” Domb said. “I’m listening to Dr. Fauci, who said masking is a decision that should be left up to the individual. I’m listening to Children’s Hospital.”

PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said Friday, “Our team advises against required masking.”

Domb fears the mask mandate will be a blow to the city’s economy just as recovery is beginning.

“It could really set back our local economy. Philadelphia is just one city. It’s one thing if the entire country does it, but they aren’t. The suburbs aren’t doing it, either. This just hurts our small businesses.”

Domb also noted that while Philadelphia’s case rate is higher than the nearby suburbs, it’s far lower than New York City and Washington, D.C., and even lower than Baltimore.

The 7-day average caseload per 100,000, according to New York Times data, in Philadelphia (170) is significantly above that of surrounding counties, including Montgomery (84), Delaware (50), Chester (54), and Bucks (45). That metric, among others, leaves some counties hedging their bets.

Critics of reinstating mask mandates, however, point to hospitalization rates. While Philadelphia has seen a spike in the daily average of positive tests over the past two weeks, up 74 percent, the hospitalization number is down over that same period by 21 percent.

Delaware and Montgomery County officials note their communities are not currently at risk using CDC metrics, but they won’t rule out the need for future mask mandates.

“The Delaware County Health Department (DCHD) is monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic data to identify trends that may require public health community measures such as indoor masking,” the county said in a statement. “Currently, per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Delaware County’s community-level remains low. Therefore, an indoor mask requirement in Delaware County is not yet necessary.”

Montgomery County Public Health Administrator Christina Miller also noted the county’s “low” status, while still suggesting some people may choose to mask for the next few weeks.

“In light of the slight uptick in cases we are seeing across the Northeast, and the uptick in cases that we saw at this time last year following spring break, individuals––particularly those at higher risk for severe COVID––might consider masking up this week and the next few weeks to protect themselves and their community,” Miller said.

Domb also supports a mask recommendation, not a requirement.

“They’re talking about removing the mask mandate for airline travel the same day Philadelphia goes back to masking,” Domb observed. “I wish they would reconsider.”

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As Yogi Berra said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

Beginning April 18, Philadelphia is reimposing its mask mandate–the first major city to take this step. People who are indoors in a public place must wear a mask. The order is due to increased COVID 19 cases, although hospitalization rates remain low.

In support of its mandate, the city Health Department said there are an average of 142 new cases per day, while on April 1 the average was 84 cases. However, hospitalizations are essentially unchanged, with 44 on Monday and 43 on April 1.

Philadelphia’s announcement comes as even Dr. Anthony Fauci conceded the era of government-mandated mitigation as an effective strategy is over.

“It’s going to be a person’s decision about the individual risks they’re going to take,” Fauci told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday.

“This is not going to be eradicated and it’s not going to be eliminated,” Fauci said of COVID-19. “So you’re going to make a question and an answer for yourself, for me as an individual, for you as an individual. What is my age? What is my status? Do I have people at home who are vulnerable that if I bring the virus home there may be a problem?”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the likely Democratic nominee for governor, also went out of his way to call the move “counterproductive.”

“Look, that’s a decision that the mayor made, I certainly didn’t make it,” Shapiro said Monday after the news broke. “And I’m not a supporter of these mandates. What I’m a supporter of is educating and empowering the public so that they can make responsible decisions. But I think those kinds of mandates are counterproductive, particularly at this time.”

Delaware Valley residents who spoke to DVJournal were unhappy with the city’s decision.

“We are extremely disappointed to hear that the city plans to mandate that masks be required when dining indoors without any input from the mitigated community,” said Ben Fileccia, senior director of operations for the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association. “Restaurant workers have suffered severe backlash when enforcing these rules in the past and, unfortunately, this time will be no different.

“This announcement is a major blow to thousands of small businesses and other operators in the city who were hoping this spring would be the start of recovery,” he added. “While the rest of the commonwealth has moved forward navigating life with COVID, Philadelphia has stepped back by imposing another mandate and expecting it to be enforced by businesses and their employees.”

Shannon Grady, a Downington Area School District parent who filed a petition to remove school board members over the mask mandate, said she is concerned.

“This is exactly why I and other parents are still pursuing the cases against the mask mandates.  The schools have tried to use the fact that we are currently ‘mask optional’ as their responses or objections to the petitions filed against them, claiming that the cases are ‘moot,’ but we point out the schools still have a health and safety that includes ‘a universal and correct wearing of masks’ policy.” Grady said.

The latest research has raised questions about how effective masks are at stopping the spread of COVID-19.

“FFP3 [filtering face piece] masks could reduce the number of infections among healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19,” said Dr. Robert Sklaroff, a Philadelphia oncologist. “Otherwise, data supporting the efficacy of various face masks and respirators in preventing infection have been inconsistent. Unless masks are properly fitted and changed regularly, their only impact is psychological.

Several DVJournal readers took to Facebook to express their dismay, and some suggested the mandate will keep them from traveling into the city.

D. J. McGinley of Skippack said, “Say no!”

“I do not plan to go into Philadelphia for the next five years,” said Elliott Hirsh of Wyncote.

“Ridiculous,” said Ted Taylor of Doylestown. The “only city in the country with such a mandate. I won’t be going to Philadelphia any time soon.”

Scott Rogers, of Hamilton, N.J., said, “To hell with any mandates!!!!”

Upper Providence resident Gail Hardie Ford said, “They just can’t give up the power.”

Elkins Park resident Helaine Dubner Zlotnick said, “Disappointing. Requiring masks again will hurt local businesses once again. (And) if extended to Philly schools, the children will suffer socially and physically. Sitting in a public Philly school without air conditioning is a disaster waiting to happen.”

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A group of Souderton Area School District (SASD) parents protested outside the district administration building this week, opposing the mask mandate for students, teachers, and staff.

Kaitlin Derstine, with Soudy Strong Conservatives, said the group feels betrayed by the district’s change in policy because they believed once the statewide mask mandate was struck down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, SASD would reverse its mask mandate as well.

Derstine says she is very disappointed that the school board members her group worked to help elect did not stand up to administrators and oppose the mask policy.

“In August our board had voted for mask choice for the whole district,” said Derstine. “Then the (state) mandate came out the first day of school.” Parents got an email saying the district would be requiring masks, she said.  “And then we had to fight to get an exemption form.”

“All the while the understanding was when the mask mandate lifts, we will get back to mask choice,” Derstine added.

Even though COVID cases have increased, Derstine says she believes parents should have the choice of whether their children should have to wear a mask for the school day. She pointed out other districts, like nearby North Penn, which has had strict mask and quarantine policies, also has COVID cases that are “exploding through the roof.”

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. told Face The Nation this week, “Cloth masks aren’t going to provide a lot of protection, that’s the bottom line.

“This is an airborne illness. We now understand that, and a cloth mask is not going to protect you from a virus that spreads through airborne transmission. It could protect better through droplet transmission, something like the flu, but not something like this coronavirus,” Gottlieb said.”

And a recent report by the BBC said it was “inconclusive” whether masks in schools stop the spread of COVID.

If district officials had told parents in August that they would require masks, parents could have planned accordingly.

“All of us parents (who oppose masks) would have found other options for our kids,” said Derstine. “We would pursue other avenues, formed ‘pods.’ Of course, the district didn’t want that because that would have cost them money.”

Tax dollars per student would have gone to support the learning pods instead of the school district, she said.

Or like-minded parents would have signed their children up for an online charter school, which the district would also have to fund, she said.

She noted that her son went to summer school last summer without a mask and there were no problems. When their kids are sick, parents will keep them at home, she said.

SASD Superintendent Frank Gallagher did not respond to a request for comment.

“We are demanding medical freedom,” said Derstine. “We are demanding parent choice.”

She is also concerned that teachers, the school nurse, and administrators are busy tracing contacts of students who have COVID, rather than educating kids.

“That is not their job,” said Derstine. “That’s not what we, the taxpayers, pay them to do.”

Some school districts in the area and around the country have been closing schools in the wake of increased COVID cases with the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, which has caused staff shortages.

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COVID-19 has provided a best-of-times, worst-of-times experience for expertise. The science has been spectacular, but discourse on that science has often been abysmal.

The same-year development, testing, and approval of vaccines was remarkable. The mRNA platform behind the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could become the Swiss army knife of therapeutics. It’s already being mobilized against cancer and genetic illnesses.

I’m no virologist or geneticist, but experts I respect persuaded me of the vaccines’ safety and efficacy. I got jabbed as soon as possible and regret that others chose not to. I wear masks in some situations, and not others. I see people socially but avoid large crowds. I favored lockdowns and school closings in early 2020 but think they lingered too long. My guess is that jurisdictions focused on the most vulnerable populations (elderly, immunocompromised, etc.) will seem wiser in hindsight than those that applied draconian mitigation strategies over their entire populations.

I think I’m right on these things, though I recognize that future evidence might say otherwise. I’m grateful for the scientists who developed the vaccines but strive to maintain an open mind on all scientific matters, along with a sense of humility and a generous spirit toward those who disagree with me. A proper understanding of science demands no less.

The history of medicine offers ample reasons to avoid smug certitude which, unfortunately, is abundant on social and traditional media. Science is always about likelihood and never about certainty, though word apparently hasn’t reached Twitter and TV news.

Then there is the flagrantly political demeanor of so many COVID experts. I’m not at all prepared to say whether red states or blue states were wiser in their public policies. Too many confounding variables. I’ll make one exception, which is to say that the press and others besoiled themselves by relentlessly lionizing ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Today, few Democrats or Republicans quote his tweet from May 5, 2020: “Look at the data. Follow the science. Listen to the experts. … Be smart.”

Here’s why they shouldn’t. Science, like a chainsaw, is an exceedingly powerful and useful tool. But “follow the science” makes no more sense than “follow the chainsaw.” The chainsaw doesn’t know the safest way to cut a tree, and science—let alone some anthropomorphic vision of it—can’t weigh the tradeoffs between slowing COVID and shutting down schools and cancer surgeries.

Science informs individual and collective choices, which depend not only on those scientific findings but also on subjective preferences and one’s degree of confidence in those scientific findings. As for “listen to the experts,” Cuomo wrote the book on COVID expertise, and that book’s fall has been as spectacular as its author’s plummet.

Medical history is littered with experts who were spectacularly wrong. When Ignaz Semmelweis suggested that doctors employ antiseptic medical procedures (e.g., washing hands in maternity wards), medical experts were offended and conspired to destroy Semmelweis. When Stanley Prusiner suggested that misfolded proteins could cause mad cow disease and its human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, he was pilloried as a heretic—a pejorative that didn’t entirely vanish when he received a Nobel Prize for his work. As physicist Max Planck said, “Science progresses one funeral at a time.”

In October, novelist and essayist Ann Bauer wrote a poignant column, “I Have Been Through This Before,” on her discomfort with the parade of cocksure COVID experts issuing ever-changing diktats and pronouncements. When vaccines didn’t end the pandemic, she wrote, “doctors and officials blamed their audience of 3 billion for the disease. The more the cures failed, the greater the fault of the public.”

The title of her column referred to her personal experience as the mother of an autistic son born in the late 1980s. Psychologist Bruno Bettelheim had hypothesized that autism was caused by “refrigerator mothers” who failed to show their children sufficient love—a theory we now know to be nonsense. But for a time, Bettelheim’s ideas were gospel-truth, showering mothers of autistic children with guilt and opprobrium. Today, he is regarded as something of a charlatan, but back then, he was a pop icon and celebrity expert on television. One questioned Bettelheim at one’s own peril.

During the pandemic, yard signs have sprouted with the message, “Science Doesn’t Care What You Believe.” For what it’s worth, chainsaws don’t care what you believe, either.

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Restauranteurs in the city of Brotherly Love and the nearby suburbs are digesting the implications of a citywide mandate that requires customers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the new year.

Some fear the guidelines give suburban eateries an edge over Philadelphia competitors forced to impose the mandate. Others are more hopeful that the mandate, beginning Jan. 3, could actually boost business for Philadelphia restaurants by making concerned potential customers feel more comfortable dining out.

“Our customers are already saying …. ‘Well, we’re just going to go to Bucks County,’” Nancy Morozin, co-owner of The Dining Car in Northeast Philadelphia, told WHYY.

The Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association said about 30 percent of their businesses already required customers to show proof they were vaccinated to dine indoors before the mandate was adopted.

That could cut against the notion that they’ll be a great wave of diners hitting up the suburbs once the city’s vaccine mandate goes into effect. For the first two weeks it’s in place, customers also have the option of showing a negative test within the past 24 hours in order to dine in.

One industry watchdog says the vaccine mandate may actually encourage customers who felt unsafe dining to come out of their cocoons.

“The restaurants that were doing this showed that they were just as busy if not busier than places that weren’t” requiring proof, said Ben Fileccia, director of operations and strategy for the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association.

The vaccination mandate is a better option than last year’s lockdowns which forced about one-fifth of Philadelphia restaurants to permanently shut their doors, Fileccia said. However, he acknowledged restaurateurs in the city “are rightfully concerned” after hearing from some venues that host large events who are seeing customers decide to shift those weddings, conferences, and parties elsewhere.

“Right now, if you live in Philly and you’re unvaccinated and don’t have a religious or medical exemption, your option will be to head to the suburbs to enjoy dinner out there,” Fileccia said.

That could change if other municipalities across the state follow suit and adopt similar measures.

The Pennsylvania Municipal League says some locales tried instituting vax mandates or incentive programs for employees to get the jab, but so far it hasn’t fielded a single call from anyone looking to enact its own dining-vax mandate

With more than a million residents, Philadelphia is the state’s only first-class city and may have more legal clout and autonomy to adopt and enforce stricter regulations than smaller municipalities, said John Brenner, executive director designate at the Pennsylvania Municipal League.

“Because of its home-rule charter, it would have some capabilities that other places may not have,” he said. “I’m sure it’s going to come up. There are a lot of questions like that we’re going to have to wrestle with.”

Pennsylvania has suffered more than 1.5 million infections and nearly 36,000 deaths from the coronavirus, according to state data. Of the nearly 7 million people fully vaccinated here, more than 1.2 million people are in Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester Counties, data show.

Eric Nagy, a spokesman for Bucks County, told the Delaware Valley Journal while there may be an appetite for a local vaccine mandate from people “on both issues,” it is “not something” county commissioners are contemplating.

That is reassuring news to people like Tom Darlington, owner of the Great American Pub in Narbeth, who called Philadelphia’s dining-vax mandate “terrible” for owners still recovering from the “irreparable harm” they suffered during the pandemic.

He feels the mandate will cause consternation for businesses negotiating an issue that has divided people along party lines. And, he said, the case could be made that the practice is discriminatory as vaccine hesitancy is higher among certain groups.

“Asking for vaccine cards is basically, in my opinion, the government forcing private industry to police government policy,” he said. “I believe the idea of asking for vaccine cards is so against American ideals. It reminds me of Nazi Germany.”

Darlington understands the argument that requiring diners to show proof they’re vaccinated is no different than some of the other health and sanitary rules and regulations that all eateries in Pennsylvania are already required to follow. But he still believes it comes down to people choosing what’s right for themselves. He mentioned two family members who died shortly after getting vaccinated. He couldn’t be sure whether their deaths were linked to their decisions to get vaccinated.

“Where do you draw the line?” he asked. “COVID is a killer. I’m not downplaying that. There are people who say, ‘Hey listen, I’m vaccinated. I want to go out and enjoy a good time that’s not dangerous to my family.’ … It’s a matter of control, and it all goes back to if you’re going to just mandate it for indoor dining, make it across the board for everything.”

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