top of page
Image by Colin Lloyd

School Maskings - ARE IMPRACTICAL AND HERE IS THE SCIENCE AND REVIEWS

Updated: Oct 27, 2021

Masks, children and COVID-19 – Published Studies

in Uncategorized 07/30/2021

STUDIES AROUND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MASKS ARE INCONCLUSIVE


No association of disease incidence and mask use https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.18.21251986v1.full.pdf


Best case scenario: a reduction of .09 to .6 odds ratio for wearing mask all the time. Even within a hospital setting the use of masks gives little evidence. “Therefore, evidence for mask use versus nonuse and comparing mask types in health care settings remained insufficient. There were no new studies on the effectiveness and safety of mask reuse or extended use.” https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/L20-1292


A Danish randomized controlled trial with 6000 participants, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in November 2020, found no statistically significant effect of high-quality medical face masks against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community setting. https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817


A July 2020 review by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine found that there is no evidence for the effectiveness of face masks against virus infection or transmission


IMPROPER MASKING IS COMMON AND UNSANITARY

Our analysis of a set of masks worn by children demonstrated significant pathogens found on children’s masks including pneumonia and cow herpes:


Wearing masks for long periods of time could result in potentially hazardous chemicals https://www.ecotextile.com/2021040127603/dyes-chemicals-news/exclusive-chemical-cocktail-found-in-face-masks.html


SCHOOLS WITHOUT MASKS HAVE NOT FARED WORSE

Comparison of cases with school mask mandates and no mandates in Florida, New York, and Massachusetts.

“We do not find any correlations with mask mandates.” https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257467v1.full


Schools in Sweden had no masking and fared just fine https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2026670




MASKS CAN BE DETRIMENTAL TO DEVELOPMENT

Numerous effects might be seen from extended mask wearing https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4344


Mask use might be associated with headaches on other child ailments https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-124394/v2


ABOUT COVID AND SCHOOLS

LOW RISK FOR CHILDREN


Children are at very low risk of COVID-19 https://osf.io/ezdf2/


Children have strong preexisting immunity to Sars-Cov-2 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6522/1339


Hospital outcomes for children significantly better than adults https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2766037


Children spread COVID-19 much less than adults https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2766037


CHILDREN SPREAD COVID LESS FREQUENTLY

Adults living with children are not at increased risk of contracting the disease: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1


In fact, the disease was attenuated in families with children: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1


Children “act as a brake” on the disease. (Massive study out of Germany) https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1


Transmission is typically from adult-to-child not from child-to-adult: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20222315v1


Bottom line: children are less susceptible to COVID-19 than adults https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008559


Children are not super spreaders https://adc.bmj.com/content/105/7/618.info


ASYMPTOMATIC SPREAD FROM CHILDREN IS RARE

As with adults, asymptomatic spread is less than 1% in secondary attack rate: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2774102


Viral loads in children are significantly lower than in adults https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/JCM.02593-20


No evidence of relevant asymptomatic spread in childcare facilities https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.04.16.21255616v1


In-person learning in New York City public schools not associated with increased prevalence https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2021/03/05/peds.2021-050605.full.pdf


TEACHERS DO NOT FACE INCREASED RISK FROM CHILDREN


U.S. Child Care Programs show no significant impact from COVID-19


No association of elevated risk for school providers https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/1/e2020031971.long


Spread among schools in the Fall was subordinate at best https://www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_22_20.pdf


The risk of in-person schooling for teachers is are comparable to the risks of commuting by automobile https://www.nber.org/papers/w28619


SCHOOLS HAVE NOT DRIVEN THE SPREAD OF COVID-19

Extremely limited secondary transmission in schools https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/4/e2020048090



Unicef: “the net benefits of keeping schools open outweigh the costs of closing them.” https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/six-point-plan-protect-children


62 views0 comments

Commentaires


bottom of page