So let me ask you: with such well-ventilated facilities, what is the marginal benefit of masking? And is this benefit worth the difficult-to-quantify but very real cost of students being unable to see the faces of their classmates?
It's difficult to estimate. Of course, even with all this care, not everywhere is equally well ventilated. My room is wide open to the outside, but there are other rooms depending on central air and the room filter which may not be as well off. Trying to form policy on a room by room basis would be nutty.
> And is this benefit worth the difficult-to-quantify but very real cost of students being unable to see the faces of their classmates?
We do go outside quite a bit, and most students choose to not mask outside and thus see their classmates then. There's also the very real benefit of making many students-- and me, their teacher-- feel safer.
IMO the biggest cost is it's slightly harder to understand each other and we have a few more misunderstandings per day.
Further bounding the risk of me getting exposed by a student (ventilation + masking) lets me both see my elderly father and continue to teach. I don't financially need to teach, and as much as I find it rewarding, I'm not willing to take a large risk of killing family members to do it.
I would figure the first thing needed to answer that question is defining the "difficult-to-quantify" cost, right?
The hospitalizations tell the story, ie. we are doing better than under the big flu seasons from the past.
It's more that the majority thinks that masks work, so it won't change anytime soon.