The Seattle Children’s Museum has instituted “Mask up Mornings,” where face masks are mandatory before noon, but only “recommended” afterwards.
The museum, located in Seattle’s Uptown district, contains “hand-on exhibits and daily programs… designed for kids from birth to age 10,” with the organization declaring that their aim is to “foster the joy of discovery and ignite curiosity through play.”
When the museum reopened in April of this year, masks were required for all adults and children aged three and older, according to an archive of their website.
Happy to share that @ChildrensMusSea will reopen on Saturday, April 2! We are excited to welcome children and those who care for them back to a revitalized Museum. https://t.co/fkHHaTNYAP pic.twitter.com/x1IWiobzw9
— Seattle Children's Museum (@ChildrensMusSea) March 3, 2022
However, from at least May onward, a new mask policy was created, “Mask up Mornings,” where they would only be required for the aforementioned age group at the Seattle museum from the time it opened up until noon, at which point they would instead be merely “recommended” for guests to wear.
There is no detailed explanation on the website as to why the museum believes that COVID-19 is such a concern before 12PM that everyone above the age of three must wear a face mask, but suddenly does not become worth protecting against in the afternoon.
According to the CDC, King County, which includes Seattle, community transmission for COVID-19 is low, and masks are only recommended for those with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone who has tested positive.
Washington state guidelines note that while masks are not legally ordered, people who are “immunocompromised, unvaccinated, or feel sick” should wear them. They also encourage children from ages two to four to wear a mask with adult supervision. It is not known why the Seattle Children’s Museum therefore chose three and not two as an age cut off for “Mask up Mornings.”
It is not known who at the museum instituted the order. Stephanie Arduini, the current Executive Director, only arrived to her post in July, after creating a “more accurate, inclusive, and relevant interpretation of the American Civil War” at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond Virginia, a month after “Mask up Mornings” began.
Andrew Matthews, the President of the Board of Trustees, was elected to his role “just as the pandemic emerged” and the museum shut down. A commercial lawyer, he works for a “prominent immigrant rights organization” to provide pro bono legal work for asylum seekers and “refugees.”
The museum dedicates the majority of its about section to discussing how they stand for “social justice and anti-racism,” with a declared goal to create exhibits “that have justice, equity, inclusion, diversity, visibility, access and anti-racism built in,” and using “diversity” and “inclusion” in their hiring process.
Ironically, staff at the museum were allegedly removed in a “mass lay-off” in June 2020, after they “collectively suspended [their] labor” after the museum seemingly deleted the phrase “Black Lives Matter and all references to anti-racist education from public educational resource posts” on social media.