Rural trustee schooled over anti-mask rants

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2021 (1667 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A rural trustee’s anti-mask spiel is being questioned by families and teachers alike ahead of a back-to-school season that’s anticipated to coincide with the fourth wave of COVID-19 in the province.

Since the start of the pandemic, Karen Insley, who represents Ward 4 in the Sunrise School Division, has been posting on social media about her anti-mask, anti-lockdown and anti-media views.

“I think the population just has to get on with life, go back to living how we did before and just say to hell with it,” she wrote in a comment posted on her personal Facebook profile in April.

More recently, after Manitoba revealed K-12 classroom guidelines for 2021-22 — which recommend masks versus requiring them — she put out a call to parents to email her if they don’t want their kids “to wear M’s” to back her fight to loosen restrictions. Insley, who is a personal fitness and nutrition coach, also took to social media to promise to fight “tooth (and) nail” so masks are not made mandatory again.

The trustee declined to be interviewed.

“This rhetoric puts us all in danger,” said Lauren Hope, a teacher and parent who co-founded the Safe September MB movement. “To have a school trustee, who is in a position of trust, promote lies and misinformation is negligent and this is why we need a mask and a vaccine mandate — because, unfortunately, we know that there are a few who will not do the right thing.”

Hope said trustees, who make decisions on behalf of the public, need to acknowledge the duty of care in the education system and recognize that a reasonable parent would not put their child in a situation (going maskless) in which they could be part of a transmission chain or become very ill from COVID-19.

Manitoba’s top doctor has warned the fourth wave is imminent. At the same time, Delta — a highly infectious variant that’s causing a surge in cases among youth (early research is indecisive on whether more severe outcomes will follow suit) — is circulating, as well as Delta Plus.

Masks, when worn properly, are an effective way to prevent the spread of the virus, although public health officials recommend they be used alongside other preventative measures, such as getting immunized and keeping physically distant.

No research has shown mask-wearing has negative consequences on children or their development, said Leslie Roos, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Manitoba and an investigator at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba.

It is known, however, that pandemic isolation and health concerns have raised youth anxiety levels and caused serious mental health issues. Citing those facts, Roos said masking is an evidence-based way for children to protect themselves and their loved ones by limiting the spread of the virus at a time when they are surrounded by things that are out of their control.

Answering a request for comment about Insley’s posts, board chairman Paul Magnan said in an email that Sunrise trustees will discuss masks after a meeting between superintendents and provincial officials today. Division policy will then be communicated to staff, students and parents.

As far as the president of the Sunrise Teachers’ Association is concerned, relaxing the mask mandate is “reckless.”

“You can’t argue with science,” said Cole Serofin, who wants a universal face covering requirement in all K-12 classrooms. “Anyone that is in opposition to that is just kind of fooling themselves. We’re still not out of this, and there’s going to be a fourth wave.”

Sharon Klos plans to send her children to Grade 4 and 6 with masks next month. “We’ll carry on with the status quo. I don’t think there’s any harm in doing that. They’re used to making sure they have a mask with them when they go,” said Klos, who lives in Hazel Glen, located in Ward 4 of Sunrise.

The mother of two, however, is realistic about the effectiveness of kids wearing masks. Face coverings are only as effective as the people wearing them, she said, adding that even adults reuse dirty masks and don’t always wash their hands before putting them on or removing them.

Klos’ perspective is that children who can properly wear masks should when they cannot be distanced.

“No one wants to go back to lockdowns and remote learning,” she said.

Health Canada advises that children older than five should wear masks in shared spaces and when advised by their local public health authority to do so.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie