Edmond mom urges school mask mandate after daughter contracts COVID within the first week

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — School just started in Oklahoma and yet Carli Shelton says already her daughter Joei couldn’t avoid COVID in the classroom.

"She was feeling very ill and her throat was hurting really bad. She was coughing," said Carli describing her daughter's initial symptoms, "I was frustrated and then when I told her that she was positive, she started crying and said, Mom, I was the only person in my class wearing my mask."

Staying true to Governor Stitt’s state-wide ban on mask mandates, Edmond public schools has left the decision on face coverings up to each individual. Which Carli says, has left her 11-year-old, who’s still too young to get the vaccine, defenseless.

"You're making kids that have, you know, shouldn't be put in these positions to catch COVID being put in a position to catch it," said Carli.

She got an email from Summit Middle School on Monday alerting her Joei had been exposed to someone with COVID on Friday. Joei is also far from the only one being notified. Less than a week into the school year and Edmond is revealing they currently have 130 active coronavirus cases among students and staff. Meanwhile, Mustang has 61 active cases and Oklahoma City has 189.

"We're on the third day of school and there are 130 people already? That's insane and scary," said Carli.

However, Carli’s biggest fear is the longer schools go without masks, the more likely she thinks we'll be to see future outbreaks.

"If my daughter's wearing a mask and she caught it, what's going to happen to the kids that aren't wearing mask or and are not vaccinated," questioned Carli.

She’s now calling on her district to follow in Oklahoma City’s footsteps by asking them to put masking policies back in place. She adds that her hope is it gets done before COVID cases run the risk of sending everyone back home for virtual learning.

"I think that that is the only way we stopped this," she said, "I am disheartened by the way that Angela Grunewald has, the superintendent of Edmond, has handled this because I think she's making it a political issue and this should not be political."