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Whether they鈥檙e shrouding their policy preferences under 鈥渙riginalist鈥� jurisprudence or mounting against perceived threats from Critical Race Theory, American conservatives are fond of framing their arguments in terms of a rigid code of fixed ideals.

They pride themselves on their allegiance to a moral code, a firm compass that distinguishes them from progressives who are always 鈥� allegedly 鈥� trying to erode the core principles that make America great.

Which is why it鈥檚 so tragicomic to witness conservative state leaders in , , , , and beyond search for some shred of principled moral reasoning to justify their mandates forbidding school districts from requiring masks on their campuses.

It鈥檚 a tough task, since most of conservatives鈥� usual lines just don鈥檛 fit. They certainly can鈥檛 justify their actions in the name of American federalism and local control of schools. It鈥檚 hard to squash local school boards鈥� abilities to determine whether or not students and staff must wear masks 鈥� in the name of local control. determining the masking rules for every locale in his state, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott explained that 鈥淭exans, not government, should decide their best health practices.鈥�

Nor can conservatives shield themselves in the name of protecting personal responsibility. If the last 18 months have taught Americans anything, it鈥檚 that the cautious also suffer when their feckless, carefree neighbors ignore the pandemic鈥檚 risks. Which, by the way, is also why they鈥檝e shelved their 鈥減ro-life鈥� rhetoric for this particular debate.

So conservative leaders have made a desperate grab for the banner of individual freedom. For instance, in his executive order limiting districts鈥� pandemic mitigation efforts, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis insisted he was acting to 鈥減rotect parents鈥� freedom to choose whether their children wear masks.鈥� That is, masks can鈥檛 be required at school during a still-raging pandemic because that would disempower families from choosing what鈥檚 best for their children and, presumably, teachers from managing their own tolerance for risking infection.

But this is a profound distortion of America鈥檚 traditional approach to freedom. about how virtuous behavior and personal responsibility were fundamental to sustaining individual liberty. It was obvious to them that the stability of America鈥檚 limited, representative government rested upon individuals behaving responsibly. 鈥淰irtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government,鈥� George Washington wrote in his Farewell Address. And, when it鈥檚 politically convenient, modern conservatives know this. 鈥淔reedom relies on virtue for its survival,鈥� announced . Its authors continued: 鈥淚t is virtuous citizens taking personal responsibility for their actions and exercising mutual responsibility for the welfare of others who make ordered liberty possible.鈥�

In his towering 1859 essay, 鈥淥n Liberty,鈥� English philosopher John Stuart Mill, articulated his 鈥渉arm principle,鈥� one of that tradition鈥檚 famous definitions of individual freedom. 鈥淭he only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will,鈥� Mill wrote, 鈥渋s to prevent harm to others.鈥� The gist of the principle should be intuitive 鈥� indeed, to most Americans. It鈥檚 the intellectual ancestor of : my freedom to swing my fist ends precisely at the point where it hits your nose.

In that vein, then, the case for curtailing families鈥� liberty to send their children unmasked hinges upon whether or not this will cause harm to others. This is not a complicated calculation.

To be sure, throughout the pandemic, it has been both tempting and fashionable to claim that the coronavirus is not particularly threatening for children. Further, advocates from across the political spectrum have made a series of cavalier claims about the relative safety of school settings. Last March, Brown University economist and prominent school reopening advocate Emily Oster , 鈥淵our Unvaccinated Kid Is Like a Vaccinated Grandma.鈥� In his executive order as proof that school masking was unnecessary.

However, much of the confident talk about the safety of school reopening comes from earlier moments in the pandemic when fewer children were being tested and attending in-person schooling. As in-person school reopening launches across the country, there is that children are to catching the Delta variant than previous strains of the coronavirus. It鈥檚 driving , perhaps because those under the age of 12 are still not yet eligible to receive any of the coronavirus vaccines. it increases the risk of hospitalization for people of all ages.

Data on the latest pandemic spike suggest that these concerns are warranted. Pediatric hospitals 鈥� 鈥� . Test positivity rates for school-aged children . That is, more of the kids being tested for COVID are testing positive. an overall as the baseline threshold for when it is safe for governments to reopen in general. Perhaps we might tolerate a slightly higher rate for school reopenings, but Florida鈥檚 positivity rate for kids is four times the WHO鈥檚 benchmark: in that state, . Meanwhile, over 98 percent of Americans live in counties .

Finally, in elementary schools with universal masking and widespread COVID testing, that nearly one-quarter of students will be infected in the first three months of school. Remove students鈥� masks, and their models suggest that nearly 80 percent of an elementary school鈥檚 students will be infected in the same time frame. These CDC models are looking gloomily prescient: as Georgia schools near the end of their first month since reopening, the state鈥檚 Department of Public Health reports that . Gwinnett County Public Schools, just outside Atlanta, by the end of the school year, and possibly more if case rates increase with colder weather 鈥� despite requiring masks at all times on campus.

In such an environment, at such a precarious moment for public health, the application of Mill鈥檚 harm principle is relatively straightforward. The new variant of the virus is already threatening the health of children and families, and it will threaten more if schools reopen without mitigation measures in place. Universal masking is just the simplest, easiest and cheapest of these. Political and education leaders are absolutely justified in taking all of the standard approaches to slowing the spread of the coronavirus 鈥� including mandatory masking, vaccine mandates and strict quarantine protocols for schools with new COVID cases.

Notably, as the Delta variant began taking hold of campuses around the country, even Prof. Oster and Brown University took touting Gov. DeSantis鈥� citation of her research .

That conservatives are abandoning their prior moral convictions to explain their behavior makes clear that the whole effort to 鈥減rotect the freedom鈥� of the recklessly unmasked is really about scoring political points in a moment of enormous peril for children, families and the country. Indeed, in the face of school districts鈥� opposition to his executive order, to families determined to send their children to schools unmasked. Note, of course, that this extension of freedom, in the form of 鈥渆mpowering families,鈥� doesn鈥檛 isolate the risks only to the private schools willing to tolerate these unmasked families鈥� choice. It simply provides the virus with more vectors to transmit, threatening everyone in Florida 鈥� and the rest of the country.

Worst of all, it鈥檚 not even the first time that conservatives have tried to use the virus as leverage for attacking public schools and educators. Last summer, then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos that would allow parents to enroll in private schools willing to open into the teeth of .

To be fair, modern conservatives鈥� brand of radical individualism is taken into account elsewhere in the Western intellectual canon. English philosopher Thomas Hobbes argued that this rugged freedom was something like humans鈥� natural state 鈥� each of us fending for ourselves and charting our own life courses. Famously, however, he warned that this was incompatible with civil society, for in this state of nature, life was 鈥渟olitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.鈥�

Dr. Conor P. Williams is a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. Find him on Twitter . The views expressed here are his alone. 

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