School starts on Wednesday for me (remote for students). I have no idea what I am going to do because we've been told we don't need to wear masks if we can social distance. As a result, most people plan to remove their masks while teaching remotely from their classrooms.

I don't qualify for accommodations. I can't afford to quit (and I love my job, pandemic aside). But science says masks protect everyone. @NewJerseyDOE and @GovMurphy's guidance both say staff and visitors must wear masks at all times in the school building.

I've talked to teachers all over NJ who are worried because their districts have said teachers may remove masks if they can social distance. How is that ok, especially in buildings where windows can't be opened? Any respiratory droplets will be pulled into the HVAC system.

I live with someone who is high-risk, so the idea that many of my colleagues will spend 5-7 hours per day speaking (teaching) without a mask when our ventilation system only has MERV 7 filters is terrifying.

I have teacher colleagues in other states who have been exposed and had to quarantine within just a week or two of school starting. What will happen when hordes of teachers spend all day talking without masks in poorly ventilated buildings?

No mitigating strategy is 100% effective, especially in closed loops like a school building. Why wouldn't we wear masks to protect each other? Are they annoying? Yes! Uncomfortable? Yes! But it's a pandemic and we should be looking out for each other.

Many of my friends are working from home until at least January because their companies acknowledged that their buildings can't properly mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19. Schools are essential, but school buildings are not right now.

Teaching is a job that requires speaking all day long. We know that more talking=more possible spread. When we wear masks we provide a barrier that can prevent some of those droplets from entering an HVAC system. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/wear-your-mask-and-stop-talking/615796/

Schools are public spaces. Even when students are remote we will have many staff members present who come from all over the state. Students will come inside to pick up materials. Masks should be mandatory unless we are outside.

I can't go to a gym for an hour without a mask. I can't walk across a restaurant without a mask. I can't decide to remove my mask at the supermarket because no one else is in the same aisle. Employees in all three of those places must wear masks at all times.

Schools should not be different. It's horrifying that the rules for reopening gyms in NJ are stricter than the rules for reopening schools, but at the very least both spaces should require masks at all time.

My mask protects you and your mask protects me. Allowing my colleagues (who may be asymptomatic) to choose not to wear a mask while forcing me into the building to do a job I can do very well from home during a pandemic is a travesty.

This thread is all over the place because I can't even think straight. Science trumps opinion. Even if you think it's dumb, the research so far shows masks help and that we should be doing more than one mitigating strategy at a time to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

I don't care if you believe in masks. If you work in a public building you should be wearing a mask until we have a viable treatment for this virus. It's not about you and your beliefs- it's about protecting the most vulnerable among us.