A high school marked unvaccinated students at prom with Sharpie. Parents called it Nazi Germany, Republican says – By Timothy Bella (The Washington Post) / June 15 2021
Prom night at Exeter High School was an enchanted evening without masks — a socially distanced, outdoor gathering of dancing and games that the class of 2021 might not have envisioned taking place during the coronavirus pandemic. To help make it happen, the New Hampshire high school earlier this month asked the 300-plus attendees to lift their corsages or sleeves and stick out their hands for the big night’s even larger question: Are you vaccinated?
Students who could show they were vaccinated were reportedly marked with a red Sharpie, while attendees who were unvaccinated or unable to provide their vaccine cards were labeled with a number in black Sharpie. The effort was part of the school’s contact tracing plan to allow all students to attend the June 4 prom, regardless of their vaccination status.
But the school, which reported no COVID-19 cases from the prom, has faced blowback in recent days after a Republican state legislator shared concern from some parents who were reportedly incensed over their children being singled out as unvaccinated. State Rep. Melissa Litchfield noted on Facebook that parents called the decision “beyond tolerable” and likened the students having their hands marked as part of contact tracing as treatment comparable to “prisoners in Nazi Germany.”
“You had to produce your papers, and if you didn’t produce your papers, you were branded with a black Sharpie,” Litchfield said to WBTS. “What does that mean to you?”
