Chicago City Wire

Immaculate Conception St. Joseph School is wrapping up a week of forcing kids back in masks. 

Last Friday, the school noted it was requiring masking throughout the school week. 

“Local COVID cases are spiking throughout the country, our city, and within our school buildings," the school announced. "All ICSJ student and staff positive COVID cases are reported to the Archdiocese through their COVID Task Force. The Task Force works with the Chicago Department of Public Health and yesterday, we received a call directly from CDPH about the concerning numbers within our school community. This afternoon, the CDPH has notified ICSJ Administration that all students and staff members are required to mask for 10 days beginning tomorrow, Saturday, May 14. Please review the letter below. Beginning Monday, May 16 through Monday, May 23, all students, staff, and visitors must wear properly fitting masks at all times in ICSJ School buildings.”

The parochial school which has two campuses oversees 450 students in grades Kindergarten through eighth grade.

Some Catholic school parents have deemed the practice “child abuse."

“f,” one parent said in regard to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s previous mandates concerning mask and COVID-19 protocols.

The change comes as more scientific evidence emerges that countries that use excessive masking have poorer outcomes than countries that use fewer protocols. Sweden, for example, avoided masking at the start of the pandemic in favor of less stringent pandemic efforts. According to the World Health Organization, the country has one of the lowest Covid death rates, considerably outperforming western European countries that implemented strict lockdown and masking procedures, Ian Miller on Substack reported.

Other scholarly studies on the issue have also contradicted mask laws. A survey of 35 European countries was published in April, concluding that "countries with high levels of mask compliance did not perform better than those with low mask usage."