Masking Children Doesn’t Stop COVID Transmission: CDC Report

CDC says “required mask use among students was not statistically significant compared with schools where mask use was optional.”

QUICK FACTS:
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report on May 28 explaining that schools that required mask-wearing had no benefit compared to schools that did not require their students to wear masks.
  • The CDC speculated that the fact that masks do not help to lower incidence of Covid-19 infection “might also result from differences in mask-wearing behavior among students in schools with optional requirements.”
  • The report also showed that schools that improved ventilation saw a 35–48% lessening of Covid-19 incidence, suggesting that “there are opportunities for many schools to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission through improved ventilation.”
  • While the CDC report does recommend “universal and correct mask use among teachers and staff members” as well as “improved ventilation” in schools, it does not recommend masking children as an effective strategy for mitigating the spread of coronavirus.
BACKGROUND:
  • The CDC’s findings come as U.S. school districts consider reimposing (here, here) mask mandates among children.
  • Doctors from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Tufts Children’s Hospital have explained that masking children can be “abusive,” saying the “theory that masks can’t do any harm” simply “isn’t true.” These doctors emphasize the fact that “there’s no science behind mask mandates for children.” On the contrary, they go on to point out how masking children can cause “severe acne and other skin problems,” “distracts some children from learning,” can “lead to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood,” “may exacerbate anxiety or breathing difficulties for some students,” “can alter facial development,” and even cause “psychological harm.”
  • The Telegraph recently reported that Sweden’s decision to imposed “no lockdowns” during the Covid-19 phenomenon actually “led to better mental health, a healthier economy and happier schoolchildren.”
  • Comparing countries differing in their requirements to mask students, New York magazine recently noted that to date there is “no evidence of more outbreaks in schools in those countries [that “exempted students from mask mandates”] relative to schools in the U.S., where the solid majority of kids wore masks for an entire academic year and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”

Jon Fleetwood is Managing Editor for American Faith and author of “An American Revival: Why American Christianity Is Failing & How to Fix It.

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