In schools. Parents and doctors are disagreeing over whether students should be required to wear face coverings in the classroom. Joining us live to delve into the debate on the science is ucsf epidemiologist. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me. Happy to be speaking to you. Kristen im excited about the opportunity to discuss this. You are in epidemiologist and the parent of a kindergartner. This is interesting because i know you were adamant kids should wear masks and schools. You supported the lengthy closure of San Francisco schools. Now you think it is time to rethink the mandate. Why . I think the basic issue is that we as a society are doing risk analysis to decide other to make masks optional. Early in the pandemic we didnt know about the risk of disease in kids and no one was vaccinated so the calculations were clear. I and others supported mask mandates and they made sense. Now we know kids themselves are at low risk of severe disease especially with the mildness of omicron and many of them vaccinated. Families and communities are at low risk of severe disease. Immunity is high from people being vaccinated or having prior infection, and masks for adults are absolutely effective, but experts are questioning their effectiveness in preventing infection in kids. My kindergartner cannot keep her mask on consistently for eight hours per day. We know studies in europe, wear masks for youngest kids have not been required, the riskbenefit calculation is different and that is why more experts are encouraging the state to make mandates optional as soon as the surge in is over. Kristen you are saying even unvaccinated children are somehow less likely to transmit it, to catch it themselves and transmit it to others . The key is that kids are at lower risk of disease. If they get it at this stage, they are not going to have severe disease and their families and communities have such high immunity that they are not going to get severely sick. The riskbenefit calculation has changed. There is the potential for transmission, but the risk side of the equation has changed. Kristen talk to us in terms of the downsides. We know there are upsides to masking. You reduce your chances for catching a cold or the flu or adding covid even if it doesnt lead to severe illness. Have you seen some of the downsides that experts say in terms of developmental and emotional consequences, have you seen that in your kid . My kid is considered an english language learner at school because we speak arabic at home. She gets extra englishlanguage sessions with her teacher, and i would definitely say that her pronunciation is maybe not as great as it could be. For people from, thankfully i also speak english so we can do that but for a lot of families who are racial, ethnic minorities are immigrants, it is challenging. It is critical for kids who are english language learners be able to have that ability to see and hear their teachers and their peers. Kristen ok. From what you have seen, our kids actually objecting to keeping the masks on the whole day at school . Im not talking about a kid having a hard time keeping it on, she forgets, but do they oppose it the way some parents do . Do you think most of the opposition comes from parents who are projecting, thinking their kids cant be happy that way . I think at least in San Francisco, a lot of kids have been normalized to this. It is a cultural thing at this point where you have your mask on all day. I daughter doesnt object. Sometimes she will say, mom, get out the mask when we go into a store. But if there was a rule she had to wear a big funky hat and i told her to do that everyday, she wouldnt. The question is, do we need to be doing that anymore . There are lots of things kids can get used to, that we can get them to do every day. The question is, is it effective . There are questions now about whether it is effective for kids to wear masks in schools, and is there harm . There is potential harm. We were ok with those harms about Language Development and Emotional Development when the risks were greater. The risks are less now so we need to rethink that equation. Kristen you talk about it being normalized in our region but when you see, for example, a threeyearold on the playground outdoors with the mask on, do you think to yourself, great if they want to but it is not scientifically necessary . Do you think that . That makes me sad sometimes. I have been very proud of our region and our leaders. They were great in terms of having lots of Protection Measures in place through the beginning of the pandemic. It kept lots of people alive and healthy. Now, i worry that that has become, that we are doing it because of cultural reasons and not for scientific reasons because the science certainly tells us, and i would say the vast majority of experts would agree that wearing a mask outdoors, especially if you are on the playground, is not evidencebased. That makes me sad that we as a region have led in the evidence early on, and are may be veering from that. Kristen i think a lot of People Struggle with the conflicting messages and signals we seem to pick up, just because this week for example, the city of San Francisco lifted the indoor mask mandate for what they call stable core hurts cohorts of vaccinated people. When you talk about kids 511 who are stable cohorts in their classroom, and a lot are vaccinated, it seems like there is lack of unity or uniformity. I think that is why a lot of parents and physicians are starting to point out the disconnect. It is exec we what you suggested. Exactly what you suggested. When there is a surge, and as we lift restrictions for adults, kids have had access to vaccines for months. We should, there shouldnt be that disconnect. I think that is why you are hearing calls right now, with the surge declining and more kids getting vaccines, definitely. Kristen if the rule werent in place anymore, would you right now have your kindergartner go to School Without a mask . Absolutely. Definitely. I look forward to that everyday. Not having to pull the mask out of my pocket to hand to her. Kristen and wash it. I want to ask you if you think this is the natural progression of a virus that can move quickly and the surges that can move quickly. It seems to change before the battle is over. Lately we have seen teachers in the bay area stage and walkouts, threatening to strike if the district provide kn95 masks. Now we are talking about, is it necessary to mask students . It is sad to see people fight when it seems like that has passed, if you know what i mean. We are in a pandemic. We have to be nimble. And i like to think that people are sort of staying on top of it is hard to stay on top of the messaging but maybe they have gotten used to the fact that when there are lots of cases, we change our behavior. When there are less cases we can pull back a little bit. For people are worried about the next variant or surge, we will deal with that when it arrives. For now, lets take advantage of the declining cases and give kids wiggle room that the adults have been getting. Kristen would you have said kn95s made sense in early january, middle of january in schools for everybody . But at this point may not as necessary . I dont know for adults we definitely have evidence that kn95s, and 95s are effective. We dont have the studies that tell us that for kids. We definitely have shaky evidence that cloth masks work. We took that chance early on because there was a lot of covid around. But i dont know we have the evidence that kids can consistently wear them all day and keep the seal and not move around in them so it is worth the investment. Kristen i would like your take on why kids arent vaccinated more as we await approval for a back saying a vaccine for under fives. Even in San Francisco, isnt it 40 statewide . Why do you think that is . That is a great question. I think it might be that parents are doing the same kind of riskbenefit calculation, that they have heard kids dont get as sick from covid and maybe sort of the risks in terms of potential vaccine side effects havent been conveyed. Maybe there hasnt been enough information that the risks arent that great in terms of vaccine side effects. For my daughter, especially because it would allow her not to have to quarantine every time there was a case in her class, i got her vaccinated in november. As soon as i could get her an appointment. For a lot of parents, they are doing the calculation for themselves and not coming to the same place and i think we as Public Health professionals can do more to sort of reassure people about that. Kristen great talking with you, so great getting your take as an epidemiologist and the parent of a young child. Appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. Kristen the future of universal health care in california. The latest push for a singlepayer system failed. We will talk to the bill cost main author the bills main kristen does universal health care have a future in california . The latest push for the progressive priority of a singlepayer system is dead for now. The bill was not put up for a vote in the state assembly by the monday deadline. An Assembly Member from san jose joins us to explain what happened and whats next for the idea. I wanted to combine your name because it seems to be cooled that way. I appreciate your time. I know it has been a tough week for you. It has been tough for a lot of people because obviously, we hoped that we were going to be able to get the votes for cal care to get through the state assembly. Unfortunately that wasnt the case. We fell quite short of that. But i do think we put some crocs in the armor klaxon the armor of the industry profiting off health care. Kristen the Nurses Association and Anthony Rendon tweeted disappointment and criticism that you didnt put it up for a vote despite the fact that it was not going to pass and everybody knew that. What is your response, that you should have done it anyway . I was looking at it from a policy perspective, not a political perspective in the sense that i know personally for me, politically the best thing to do was put it up for about. It would have been beneficial for me to do that, to say and show that i will continue to fight for the bill and for health care, but when it comes to the policy, we need more votes. At the end of the day we cant manufacture those out of thin air. Many of those votes sit on the floor with me. And we ran out of time because of the january 31 deadline to get enough of my colleagues on board. This time next year, we will have a number of new legislators, many of whom right now are campaigning in favor of singlepayer and specifically cal care. I do believe we can get a number of my colleagues on board. I dont think putting it up to a vote that was going to be by all estimates, around a 21 vote, either no votes or votes against , would have benefited the policy. I put the policy above all else, and i think it allows it to survive another day and frankly, another year, because either way it was not making it past monday. Kristen you referred to the next go around when the legislative lines are being redrawn, and there could be more progressives in the body. We will see what happens. Explain to viewers exactly how a singlepayer system as you envisioned it might work. Is this like canadas . Explain what would change for people. It would be unique to any other system partly because you think about other countries, california has the fifth largest economy in the world. We can pool our resources, pooled the buying and negotiating power of 40 million californians in order to ensure that the Health Care Provider you go to would be paid for by cal care but you could have the option and the choice to go to any Health Care Provider you wanted, including the one you have right now. It is different in that sense from access to insurance or universal insurance access, which continues to put the power in the hands of those that are profiting off our health care. And make decisions based on their bottom line, not your health. Simply put, you would be able to continue to go where you want to for your health care. Cal care would pay for it. Kristen so like Kaiser Permanente for example, the hmo, which part of it would cease to exist in california . Would it not be the insurer but would provide Health Care Like with doctors and nurses . Thats right. The insurer would need, we wouldnt need to be there for you to get access to doctors and nurses. Kaiser is a great model in terms of cal care, the integrated model works really well in how cal care is set up. The only difference is, instead of an organization like kaiser having control of your health care in terms of who is providing it and the hospitals and clinics, on top of that they also have control of the payment, which ends up creating a very expensive process, profit taking process. We want to get rid of the tens of billions of administrative costs in the Healthcare System and the profit motive that makes us have the most Expensive Health care in the world, expensive not just for families but for businesses. And instead, focus on the health care, the doctors and nurses providing health care. Kristen a lot of attention has been paid to the cost, act estimated at 350 billion. Right now, you say we pay more collectively as a system, so it is cost savings. But who would pay more . Would it be taxed . Businesses, people who make more money . Where is the cutoff . Who would pay more . Right now we pay the highest health tax in the world in the form of premiums, deductibles, copays. The average business spends 20,000 or more for one for person to have family insurance. What we want to do is have them separate employment from health care, have a progressive taxation system with a very modest payroll tax, and income tax. What that will do is allow us to get companies that refuse to pay for health care, the walmarts of the world only give 20 oh shifts for a reason. There are so many there are reasons people have two or three jobs. Taxpayers are paying for their health care. Instead, we would have everyone pooled their resources in a way that doesnt disproportionately harm the working class or businesses, but instead funds the system coupled with the majority of money, which already comes from state and federal funds. Kristen are you somewhat disappointed that the governor, despite pledging in 2018 support singlepayer, has not or did not endorse your vote . I think the governor cause. What it does is, it makes it harder for us to get votes in the legislature, but when there are seeds of doubt as to whether there is a path forward. There is absolutely a path forward, but i do think that it didnt help the cause for the governor to distance himself from the policy that he has previously, on numerous occasions, supported. Kristen there are other hurdles to clear. I know it is not just the assembly, the state legislature, california voters would have to approve it as well. You would need a federal waiver. It is a long process but thanks for letting us know what is next and that the battle is not dead as far as you are concerned. Thank you for joining us today. Enke. Kristen there is a great, innovative way to help your children recover from learning loss. It is a platform called track kristen many parents have noticed the learning loss kids have experienced since the pandemic but dont know what to do. They may not have the resources for tutoring. There is a learning platform for kids, by kids. Most people know how to make your average paper airplane, but i will teach you how to make the world record plane and destroy them in any distance competition. Kristen joining us to talk about this app are the cofounders, a former High School Teacher whose nickname is the godmother of silicon valley, and an entrepreneur, former and earlystage product leader at uber. Thanks for joining us. Thank you for inviting us. We are really excited to be here. Thanks for having us. Kristen your platform, would, d you describe it as a khan academy but the lessons are created by kids, for kids . It could be described as a con academy khan academy but it is more fun. One thing to think about is, it is older kids teaching younger kids. We know there is no one more exciting in a kids life than a kid who is a little older. That is one of the attractions. And i will let you say more about that. Kristen what sparked the drive to create the platform . What was it the pandemic . The pandemic was part of it. At everyones life, you reach a point where you say im i doing impactful work . When you see People Struggle it is a call to action. Why cant somebody do something about it . I see the motivation that all kids have, they want to be creators, they are so passionate about these different topics and it is a missed opportunity to channel that passion into something productive. Lets not do on boxings or game streams, lets channel that energy into teaching and learning. So that was the inspiration for me. And she was my teacher, so i have seen it work firsthand. I have seen the power of projectbased learning, so i want to help every kid in the world have that opportunity. Kristen i was showing the platform, and you have all sorts of topics from music to art to coding, video gaming, folding paper airplanes. Tell us why you think it is important to have content like this, that is i guess you could say it is academic plus, it is the plus stuff that fosters creativity. Why is that important . I think the big thing, the reason it is important is because it is kids and what they think is really important for them. It is not adult telling kids what to think. It is kids talking to other kids about what is important. We love to empower kids, and that is one of our goals. When kids do things that they think is important, they achieved mastery because they are passionate about doing it. That is one of my goals. Also, can we help kids achieve mastery and have grit . All right, kristen so is this free to teachers . How do students access it . Do they need to pay . It is absolutely free to teachers. All teachers need to do is to go to teach. Tract. App, they can sign up and the students can teach and learn through the platform. It is a homegrown product. You will have the luxury of having personalized support, 40 years of experience of esther as a teacher and a teacher who cares with attention to detail. Kristen there is a small subscription fee for families and parents . For parents, it is also free if you use the promo code. Use the promo code, you can use promo code woj and it is free for you. That i