By JOHN RICHARD SCHROCK
A study just published Nov. 9, 2022 in The New England Journal of Medicine again provides evidence that masking requirements provided a very significant reduction in transmission of the strain of COVID-19 being transmitted at the time.
The study was possible in February 2022 when Massachusetts ended its statewide universal masking policy for public schools. The study involved 72 school districts with 294,084 students and 46,530 staff with data over 40 calendar weeks of the 2021–2022 school year, ending on June 15, 2022. While many districts ended the masking mandate, two school districts in the Boston and neighboring Chelsea districts continued masking requirements. Some other districts continued the masking requirement for various additional weeks, giving the researchers the ability to use “…a difference-in-differences analysis for staggered policy implementation to compare the incidence of Covid-19 among students and staff.”
They found that in “…the greater Boston area, the lifting of masking requirements was associated with an additional 44.9 Covid-19 cases per 1000 students and staff during the 15 weeks after the statewide masking policy was rescinded…which corresponded to an estimated 11,901 cases and to 29.4% of the cases in all districts during that time.”
While students attending school avoided the learning loss of online instruction, the added cases due to unmasking did contribute to lost learning. “Because persons who had a positive test for Covid-19 were instructed to isolate for at least 5 days, the additional cases translated to a minimum of approximately 17,500 missed school days for students and 6,500 missed school days for staff during the 15-week period.”
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia had instated universal masking policies in public schools during the 2021-2022 school year. A March poll conducted by POLITICO and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that over 40 percent of parents thought mask-wearing harmed their kids’ education. However, despite widespread opinions on social media, the researchers in this NEJM article point out that “…there is no clear existing evidence that masking inhibits learning or harms development.”
Any concerns with children who have breathing problems can be avoided by allowing them to go mask-free, while the surrounding students and staff are still masked and protecting them. “Source control” where the infected person is wearing a mask is the most important masking. “Wearer protection” is minor protection, while “universal masking” where both parties are wearing a mask is the most protective. This science was clearly documented in the June 25, 2021 issue of the journal Science: “Face masks effectively limit the probability of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.”
Today, the schoolchildren of East Asia as well as adults on the streets of Tokyo and Shanghai and other Far East cities continue to wear face masks during this winter season. Long before this pandemic, they had always worn masks to protect others. It is the collectivist mindset of people in South Korea, Taiwan, mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong, etc. Because of this, East Asia will have fewer deaths from COVID-19, influenza, RSV and other respiratory infections this winter than in the U.S. They care about those around them.
Face masks allowed East Asia to keep their students in school for nearly all of the time since March 2020. Their students have not seen the massive losses in education recently revealed by our NAEP scores. Face masks not only saved lives, they maintained their students’ progress.
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Sources:
NEJM Mask survey “Lifting Universal Masking in Schools — Covid-19 Incidence among Students and Staff” by Tori L. Cowger, Eleanor J. Murray, Jaylen Clarke, Mary T. Bassett, Bisola O. Ojikutu, Sarimer M. Sánchez, Natalia Linos, and Kathryn T. Hall in The New England Journal of Medicine November 9, 2022 is at: https://healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/Do-face-masks-interfere-with-language-development.aspx
and https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2211029
POLITICO and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health survey is described at: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/about-40-of-parents-think-mask-wearing-harmed-their-kids-school-experience/
Two studies showing no bad effects from face masking are at:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Science brief: community use of masks to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2. December 6, 2021 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html
American Academy of Pediatrics, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Do masks delay speech and language development? Healthychildren.org, August 6, 2021
Face Masks for Children During COVID-19
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John Richard Schrock has trained biology teachers for more than 30 years in Kansas. He also has lectured at 27 universities during 20 trips to China. He holds the distinction of “Faculty Emeritus” at Emporia State University.