CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Pediatrics at the Meadows in Castle Rock was quieter on Tuesday than it had been a few weeks ago – Dr. Michael Milobsky said they received hundreds of calls from parents asking, demanding that his office write mask exemptions for their child.
"The tone of a lot of these calls, and some people made a point to come to the office, was really aggressive," he said. "I think most parents were asking because they were concerned about their child's well-being."
Milobsky said some people threatened his practice when he refused to write an exemption.
"Threats to the practice, to the business," he said. "We are going to try to ruin your name."
Around the same time the calls were coming in, parents in Douglas County were protesting the school board's decision to require masks. If they turned to this pediatric office to get out of the mandate, most had no luck.
"We are trying to limit mask exemptions to very specific situations, children who have developmental or physical disabilities that prevent them from being able to independent manage the mask," he said.
Milobsky's guidance comes from Children's Hospital Colorado, but he said many parents didn't seem to care. So, he went on Facebook to help them understand.
"If I issue a mask exemption for your child, and they infect a child who is undergoing chemotherapy, a newborn, or a pregnant teacher, who, as a result of being infected or die, I AM RESPONSIBLE," he wrote in the post.
Milobsky said the calls about mask exemptions have stopped since the post went up.
As a pediatrician, he wants to help all kids. As a father, he is ready to be done with masks too.
"I am looking forward to the scenario where we can have our kids in school and we can all throw the masks aside and we can move on," he said. "It is going to be time and a lot of work to get there.
On Tuesday, Douglas County School District didn't have data available on mask exemption requests.
Over at JeffCo Public Schools, the district said it had received 489 requests as of late last week – 208 of those requests listed a medical reason and 59 were denied as they didn't meet the requirements outlined in the public health order.
The district is no longer accepting religious exemption requests due to a revised public health order issued by the county health department in August.
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