Pediatricians and other medical experts pleaded with anti-mask advocates and parents on Thursday to start taking the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 seriously, warning that an explosion of cases is overwhelming Baldwin County’s hospitals and is sickening younger patients including children under 12 who are not yet eligible to get vaccinated.

Their comments occurred during an orderly public hearing hosted by the Baldwin County School Board in Loxley. The meeting allowed both sides of the polarizing debate about mask mandates in schools an opportunity to speak out on the issue.

For two hours, both sides provided comments and cited a variety of studies as to why they believe or do not believe students should wear masks while inside a school building within Alabama’s third-largest public school system. The district’s mask mandate applies for students in grades 2 and above and for faculty and staff. It will last until at least September 10.

Approximately 30 people spoke, almost evenly divided between those who support the mandate and those who oppose.

Following the hearing, the Baldwin County School Board voted on a resolution in support of Superintendent Eddie Tyler’s decision last month to institute the mandate. Though some of the anti-mask advocates and parents left the meeting before the board voted, there were no disruptions or shouting that has underscored similar school board meetings throughout the U.S. in recent weeks.

“I think this thing was built up to be that there would be some kind of war going on and masses of confusion,” said Tyler, following the hearing. “I think Baldwin County Schools showed the rest of the nation that you can come together civilly, even though we don’t agree, and have a common sense discussion about a very sensitive issue. I think Baldwin County showed everyone that.”

‘Game changer’

The most harrowing comments came from the medical practitioners who, in vocalizing support for the mask mandate, urged parents and others to be aware of the hospitalization crunch in Coastal Alabama. In recent weeks, Baldwin and Mobile counties have experienced the highest infection rates in Alabama as the delta variant spreads along the Gulf Coast infecting counties where vaccination rates remain low.

Baldwin County’s vaccination rate is at 33.3% for those who are fully vaccinated, and 47.7% for those receiving at least one shot. Alabama’s overall vaccination rate is close to 36%, which is the lowest in the nation, with 47.2% receiving at least one dose.

“I’m here to ask for your help to protect our children from getting sick,” said Dr. Haidee Custodio, a pediatric infectious disease physician at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile. “This delta variant, in my opinion, is a game changer.”

She said the Mobile-based children’s hospital had about 500 infected kids pass through the hospital’s hallways between March 2020 to March 2021. Within the past week, she said, there have been 125 children hospitalized.

Alabama has also overtaking Florida for having the most children hospitalized with COVID-19. The state’s hospitalization rate for children is at 3.41 per 100,000 residents, highest in the nation.

“I can tell you there is nothing more difficult whenever I go into a room and see a child with a tube down their throat and a mother and father are looking on and wanting to know what else they can do for their child,” said Custodio. “It’s not easy to deal with that every day.”

Dr. Douglas Sharp, an emergency medicine specialist in Fairhope, implored the public to “help us a little bit,” noting that hospital workers are “exhausted” as they are overrun with patients at Thomas Hospital in Fairhope. He said that physicians and nurses are tending to patients in the hospital’s hallways.

He said that Infirmary Health’s standalone emergency room in Malbis has over 40 patients, and only a dozen ER beds.

“If you’re not scared of COVID, you need to be scared of your hospital system collapsing,” said Sharp. “I can’t take care of your families right now. Your parents are staying home with chest pains. That will eventually catch up with us.”

‘Parents decide’

The anti-mask side, during their comments, argued that COVID-19 was not a deadly disease for school-age children, and pushed to have the mask mandate lifted.

Speakers said children were more likely to be “struck by a rock from outer space” or to die from diarrhea than to die from a COVID-19 infection.

There were claims that the infections were not as deadly in Alabama than in other states, with one speaker suggesting there have been no COVID-related deaths in Alabama. But deaths have occurred: Will Fowler, a 17-year-old senior from Cullman High School, died on Tuesday after reportedly being infected by the virus.

Others said that it should be parents, not school officials, who determine if their children should wear face masks while at school.

“As a parent, I am responsible for my son’s health and safety and the school is responsible to do no harm,” said Lauren Allen, a mother of two Baldwin County School System children including one who suffers from chronic health issues. She said that her child faces health issues from wearing the face masks.

Said Larry Saltee, a grandfather of students within the system, “All the parents to decide this.”

At least one student said he would prefer masks not be required at the schools because they were contributing to a “broken” high school experience.

“We are kids,” said James Carl, a sophomore at Spanish Fort High School. “It’s OK if we get sick. That’s why you have always allowed us nine sick days.”

Carl said the mask mandate amounted to putting the “interest of adults above the well-being of children.”

Wendy Pickering, a dental hygienist with a daughter at Spanish Fort Middle School, argued that the masks can become easily contaminated in the schools, and urged the school system to spend money so that students have “a minimum of 20 masks per day.”

Supporters of the school system’s protocols including the mask mandate, said the move is keeping the school from having to shut down and return to remote learning. School districts like Cullman County Schools are refusing a mask mandate, even though they are facing a surge of infections with over 400 students and staff quarantined from illness. Baldwin County Schools, while not providing numbers on infections, has less than 1% of its student population out with illness. Approximately 33,000 students attend the Baldwin County School System.

“Masks are giving the people who give their lives to your children the confidence to go to work,” said Zack Wigstrom, principal at Bay Minette Middle School. “I ask that when this is all over, and it will be soon, that you are as passionate about the good things of Baldwin County Schools as you are in fighting this mask mandate. If you do, this county will be unstoppable.”

Kylee Henseler, a third-grade teacher a J. Larry Newton Elementary School in Fairhope, said that if the masks “protects us and keeps us in school, I’m all for it.”

At least one Alabama school district with a mask mandate in place has had to cancel school because of a COVID-19 outbreak. Pike County schools near Troy reported 45 positive cases in its five schools, with the largest percentage of cases among pre-K through third graders. More than 120 students and staff are in quarantine.

‘Decision is made’

The mask mandate was issued by Tyler and became effective in early August and applied to all students on the first day of school on August 11. The mandate will last through September 10, but it will be reviewed after Labor Day weekend on whether it should be extended.

Tyler said he made the decision largely because he did not want to shut down the schools. He said he made the decision after receiving advice from medical consultants, including pediatricians and the physicians at USA Health.

Tyler said he was concerned with some of the comments that he felt attacked the credibility of the statements made by the physicians who spoke during the public hearing.

“I think the thing that concerns me is that their credibility is being called into question here by people who are not medical doctors,” he said, following the meeting. “I don’t understand that.”

Tyler said the statements made during the hearing were not going to reverse his decision on the mask mandate.

“We had a public forum to let them speak their minds,” he said. “This was never a forum for them to say, ‘we’ll hear from you and then determine if we’ll have masks or not.’ The board voted to support what I’m doing. The decision is made. We are not going take the comments and re-evaluate our mask (mandate).”

But Tyler said he was uncertain what will happen after Labor Day. He said he will continue to consult with the USA Health officials and other medical experts before determining on a future course of action.

“We’ll look at the evidence and consult with medical folks and see if this is peaking or slowing down and then make a decision,” Tyler said. “If we take the masks off the week after Labor Day, a month later, it might peak and get out of control again. And the masks will go back. On. We’ll talk to the medical folks and see what is going on.”