RETURNING TO SCHOOL IN THE FALL, CHILDREN SHOULD WEAR MASKS IF ELIGIBLE OR PREPARE FOR COVID.The upcoming back to school season raises big questions: Should children wear masks? Are children allowed to attend in-person classes?Children who go to school without wearing masks increase the risk of contracting Covid-19. Some may become ill or even die. Millions of children could lose their ability to learn and may experience permanent effects on their mental and physical health.Subscribe to The Morning newsletter of the New York TimesWe have been working with North Carolina charter schools and school districts for more than a decade to study the incidence of Covid-19, the effectiveness of mitigation measures like masking, and the higher risks associated with participating in school-sponsored athletics. One thing we know is that while vaccination is the best method to prevent Covid-19, universal Masking is close behind. With masking in place in schools, it is safer and more effective than remote instruction regardless of community rates.The best way to prevent the effects of Covid is vaccination. However, students younger than 12 years old are not eligible for the vaccines. The best and most efficient way to protect students from the disease is masking. Universal masking is the best and most efficient strategy for preventing SARS/CoV-2 transmission in schools.Schools can be saved by universal masking. Voluntary masking at schools is less effective and can lead to school closures or community transmission. We have seen this summer that voluntary masking in schools has failed in Missouri and North Carolina. This was despite an increase in Covid-19 cases, and days lost due to quarantines. Many districts were forced to rescind their mask mandates.How can we prove that masking prevents spread of the disease among non-vaccinated students in schools? Our colleagues and I created the ABC Science Collaborative in July 2020 to bring together scientists and school and community leaders to ensure that school leaders have the most current scientific information regarding Covid-19 and K-12 schools. The ABC Science Collaborative, in collaboration with North Carolina, collected data from over one million students and teachers from the state schools between March 2021 and June 2021. Bipartisan legislation required certain school districts in North Carolina to submit data on infection to the ABC Science Collaborative, a trusted third party.Continue the storyMore than 7,000 people, both children and adults, contracted the coronavirus during that period. They also attended school while infected. More than 40,000 people were quarantined due to close contact with these cases. We found that only 363 more children and adults contracted the coronavirus through contact tracing and testing. This low transmission rate is likely due to the mask-on mask school environment. Both the infected and close contacts wore masks. This protection was provided by schools without the need for expensive screening tests or major overhauls to ventilation systems.We could not compare unmasked schools and masked schools because North Carolina has a mandatory mask requirement for all K-12 schools. We looked beyond North Carolina to see the prevention impact masks have. Our research and studies in Utah, Missouri, and Wisconsin show that schools with mask mandates had lower coronavirus transmission rates. However, a school in Israel that did not have a mask mandate nor proper social distancing protocols reported an epidemic of Covid-19 among 153 students and 25 employees.Recent outbreaks at youth camps across Texas, Illinois, and Florida have shown how fast Covid-19 spreads among adolescents and adults, who are often unmasked and unvaccinated. It could also spread to surrounding communities. Schools were closed in March 2020 due to the potential for community spread.Universal masking has been shown to reduce spread. It is absurd to try to gather unvaccinated, unmasked people in an enclosed area for many hours per day, five days per week.Schools that don't require masks will be more susceptible to coronavirus transmission. Even though Covid mortality was less than two per 100,000 children of school age as of April, there were more than 50,000,000 public school children in the United States. This could still lead to many preventable deaths.Districts can make sure that all children are vaccinated once they have the opportunity. Schools may decide to not require testing or quarantining after exposure to asymptomatic adults and children, even if universal masking is in place. Schools may also consider allowing students who have been vaccinated to continue participating in extracurricular activities even if they are exposed to someone with a positive test result. Schools that don't have universal masking should continue to use ventilation and social distancing, and continue routine testing for unvaccinated students.Schools that open without mandated masks or with low vaccine uptakes will likely have higher Covid. Masks are a well-researched way to lower the chance of Covid. We should make sure that children are in school and take all precautions to keep them safe.2021 The New York Times Company
