No Surprise: Masks Work

 

From a public health and commonsense standpoint, mask mandates for school students, teachers, and staff were never really controversial when COVID-19 was on the rampage. Today, with most people in the United States having acquired immunity from either the vaccine or natural infection with SARS-CoV-2 (the most recent Omicron tidal wave took care of that), the risk is now diminished and the masks have come off in most primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in America.

Two recent studies indicate that students and teachers will want to keep their masks close by and ready for action in case immunity wanes or new variants emerge. (The American Academy of Pediatrics is still advising masking in school for children with special health care needs and students under 5 years of age who are too young to receive a COVID vaccine.)

The first study, published last week in Pediatrics, compared schools with universal masking policies to those where masking was optional. More than one million students and 157,000 teachers were included in the study that analyzed 61 K-thru-12 school districts in nine states last fall when the Delta variant was dominant. Schools that had universal mask mandates had 72% less spread of COVID-19 than schools with optional masking policies.

Another study, appearing last week in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), looked at public schools in Arkansas last fall and had similar findings: Schools that had full or partial mask requirements had a 23% lower incidence of COVID-19 among students and staff members compared to schools without mask requirements. Laura Meckler adds:

The researchers also examined 26 school districts that instituted a mask requirement during the course of their investigation. A week after the new policy took effect, infections significantly decreased among students and staff.

 

In most of the U.S. at the moment, the risk of community transmission, based on the number of COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions, is categorized as low (green) or medium (yellow). In those areas, wearing a face mask in indoor public settings like schools is no longer recommended. The CDC still advises people living in high community transmission (red) areas to continue wearing face masks in indoor public spaces.

Melissa Jenco helps parents determine whether it’s safe to ditch the masks:

When deciding on masking, the AAP recommends families consider

• whether their child is vaccinated,

• whether their child is immunocompromised or at high risk for severe COVID-19,

• whether family members are unvaccinated or at high risk for severe disease and

•whether they live in a community with a high level of COVID-19.

Based on these factors, families may choose to continue wearing masks in indoor public places even if they are not required, and that decision should be supported, according to the AAP. Schools also should have the flexibility to reinstate masking as needed.

 

The good (though not surprising) news is that when everyone cooperates and wears face masks properly, the risk of spreading respiratory viruses in certain settings, like schools and crowded indoor spaces where transmission is likely, is greatly diminished. Let’s hope the silly argument that school-kids and teachers shouldn’t wear masks in the middle of a raging and deadly pandemic is discredited for good.

 

(Google Images)

 

source http://www.thepediablog.com/2022/03/14/no-surprise-masks-work/