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We welcome Gov. David Ige’s announcement to sunset indoor masking mandates for Hawaii on Friday and the shift to a guidance-based public health model.

We also commend the Hawaii Department of Health for relaxing and shifting our keiki’s rights to allow masks to be optional outside on school grounds, sporting events, recess, and during meal times.

We however strongly encourage the state, and specifically the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education, to empower parents, children and schools to take these DOH and CDC masking recommendations for indoor settings to shift from public school indoor masks mandates to make masks optional based on individual circumstances.

Children continue to experience disproportionate restrictions and struggle with unprecedented challenges to social-emotional learning. The costs are mounting, and shifting to a mask optional culture will enable focused protection while encouraging the success of our children.

Individual families can determine respective risk ratios and choose instead if they choose to mask or not mask — and which type of mask if they choose to.

A mask-optional educational setting is also in line with our spirit and culture of aloha. Indefinite long-term masking of the lowest risk demographic in our population has created an epidemic of mental health challenges that we are only now beginning to face.

Here are some points that will help us be respectful of each other’s choices:

Why Make Masks In Schools Optional Now?

Restoring normal childhood is a social, emotional and psychological imperative, based on the balance of today’s evidence.

Vaccination rates are extremely high; data from the most recent surge shows that vaccination significantly protects against severe disease. Case rates are down and, more importantly, hospitalization rates stayed relatively low throughout the surge and are now very low.

We wore masks because they were necessary in an emergency situation; we never thought they should be a permanent addition to our children’s education. The risk-benefit balance has changed, and each day matters in our students’ lives.

It is important to allow this choice now.

In my own psychiatry practice, I have noticed a sudden upsurge in hypochondriacal concerns among children. Deaf children are less able to follow facial cues, and many of them have regressed substantially. Depression and suicide has spiked among teens.

One patient, a mother, told me her 4-year-old child had said, “Mommy I can’t take my mask off, at all, because people will see me. I feel naked without it.”

We have to face the fact that forced masking has created severe anxiety and distorted normal development for many of our keiki. As a physician, I predict these trends will worsen unless we reprioritize the developmental needs of children.

If Still Worried, What Should You Do?

Covid poses little risk of serious disease for most students, and vaccines are available for school-aged children.

Covid is a flu-like risk for unvaccinated children. Extraordinary measures in schools are not justified and our island community can shift to individual risk tolerance.

It is important to remember vaccinated children have almost no risk of severe disease. Teachers remain well protected by vaccination, with boosters important in older age groups.

What If You Want The Mask On Your Child?

Families may have a variety of different approaches to masking and are welcome to share their mask practices with the community. The community and the islands can aim to support mask-wearing children in consistent usage without allowing mask enforcement to be a focus of the teacher-student relationship.

The community should also intervene clearly and firmly if a student or anyone else attempts to influence another student’s mask choice. We should disavow mask bullying of any type.

What To Do If There Are Special Risks?

As we move forward in the pandemic, the progress we are making allows us to shift our energy towards focusing on support for those who need it most. If you have special needs we recommend you touch base with your caregiver to explore the best ways to protect your family.

Restoring normal childhood is a social, emotional and psychological imperative.

Throughout the pandemic, we have had to respond to ongoing changes in health policy in order to deliver the essential function as a school. We have been successful in taking care of our community by working together toward the same goal: to serve our children in the best way we can while taking care of our islands.

The shift to a mask-optional culture is in line with the policies our keiki will encounter outside of school and will allow us to reclaim fully the experience of school for the students and faculty while preserving the individual rights of parent and students to choose their respective levels of protection.

Maintaining in-person learning is critical for protecting our students and there is no scientific justification for treating students differently based on vaccination or mask status. Escalating Covid rules are harmful and we should normalize the daily school experience as much as possible.

Editor’s note: This Community Voice is co-authored by Lee J. Brock, M.D., Robert Patterson, Matthew Barrett, M.D., Amanda Silvey, licensed marriage and family therapist, Kali Larson, RN, Sally Morin, JD, Mackenzie Howard, M.S., Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech Language Pathology, Cathy Carrington, science teacher, Gayle Early, Ph.D., family nurse practitioner-board certified, APRN, Michael A. McMann, M.D, Leah P. McMann, M.D., and Sarah Overton, English teacher.