Nicola Sturgeon and masks in Scotland.

[Ohshitx]

Nicola Sturgeon today refused to rule out making it compulsory for Primary aged children to wear masks in school where it isn’t possible to socially distance. These guidelines have already been issued for high school pupils.

How is that going to work? How do you get kids aged 5 to safely wear, and appropriately remove masks? Surely they’ll be swapping them like Pokemon cards by the end of the first day 🙄

Beginning to feel more and more like Scotland’s kids were the guinea pigs.

Be in no doubt that Scottish schools (pupils and staff ) are guinea pigs. Scientists world wide are looking at Scotland - 100% in from the start, no distancing, no real policy just "guidelines", until today no masks . Hand sanitizer, wipes a one way system and cheery smile are all that's required. Even America (under Trump) have more measures in place to protect children and school staff. The testing system couldn't cope with demand over the weekend . In school infection has happened.

Which utterly terrifies me. I’m not an overly anxious person with regards to Coronavirus, but this genuinely scares me. Surely it was either safe to go back or it wasn’t? If they introduce face masks in Primary School, I genuinely think I would pull DS. It’s a strange enough learning environment as it is without adding in masks for the kids 😫

But our kids are already wearing masks in shops and on public transport and so on? They seem generally okay with it? I don't think it'll come in for primary DC, because they don't have the same issues with moving about crowded corridors, but I wouldn't be all that fussed if it did.

We teach children to keep pants on, we can teach them to keep masks on.

It’s just Nicola Sturgeon grabbing at some more power. The outcomes and decisions mean nothing, the ability to produce the outcomes and make the decisions is everything!

I will not be happy with my secondary age DD having to wear a mask, its a policy with no convincing evidence whatsoever, and this is purely a political decision.

Masks are nothing like pants! Pants are comfortable and you can buy them to fit you properly. They do not cause you to feel inhibited and don’t feel massively unnatural to wear like masks do.

@Malteserdiet really cheap shot and here was I thinking it was NS trying to keep the virus at bay. But oh no it’s got to be about her grabbing at power.
I wonder who you think is doing a better job?

Again just wondering if there is no convincing evidence why are all of us healthcare workers wearing them

Not a cheap shot at all. Show me a politician that genuinely cares about citizens and not their own progression and I’ll re-think my NS stance. As it stands I personally think she is one of the worst.

Did Nicola Sturgeon convince the WHO to recommend masks for her fiendish scheming purposes then?

@Lidlfix
You must be in a different Scotland from
me!
We had compulsory masks before England and a stricter quicker lockdown, we’ve been wearing masks since beg of July!!
England currently have no plans for
kids to wear masks, our High schools will be wearing them from Monday, teachers have been wearing visors and desks are sanitised at end of every class.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - there is not ONE randomised controlled trial that proves cloth face masks are effective in any way.

It is not an evidence based policy. Google Carl Heneghan from the centre for evidence based medicine in the UK, he explains the lack of evidence for cloth face coverings well.

It's purely political. If Sturgeon had wanted to reduce the death toll she should have paid attention to care homes in Scotland, or stopped the Nike convention from going ahead in Glasgow that seeded a lot of cases (as should Bojo and co as well of course.)

To be clear, my issue isn’t with NS as such. More with the mask wearing for kids that age in general.

@Malteserdiet
Power? Seriously? NS is our first minister it’s her bloody job to lead & guide the country.
Odd when Johnson or any male leader states something they never get accused of being power hungry only see it with NS.
Always easy to spot bitter yoons on these threads.

its a policy with no convincing evidence whatsoever
There is lots of scientific evidence that proves face masks reduce transmission.

@Vintagevixen
Your really grabbing at straws for your NS hatred eh?
Stopped a conference? Care homes? would that be the privately owned ones that their owners dragged their heels supplying staff with PPE and also those that imported staff from England and brought the virus with them??
Will we start a list of Tory failings regards C19?

teachers have been wearing visors
There isn't a single teacher in our school wearing a visor. My relatives are primary teachers. Across the ten schools they work in or have children in, only 1 teacher is wearing a visor.
@Lidlfix is right. Scotland is trialling an untested approach with the way it has reopened schools.

Only on mumsnet does 'refuses to rule out' translate to 'ridiculous power-grab, and unworkable anyway! SNP BAD!!!!'

NS has refused to rule out a lot of speculative and spurious things that journalists and media interviewers have quizzed her about over the past few months. That doesn't mean that later on they were eventually enacted.

At least Scotland actually has a head of government who is appearing regularly before the media and is willing to be subjected to scrutiny.

No there isn't. I have read the Melinda Mills (Oxford uni) meta analysis, plus all the studies she is discussing. All studies were done on surgical face masks, there was one done on cloth face masks of the type most people are wearing that indicated an increased risk of infection to the wearer.

There is not one RCT on face masks - all studies have been done in a hospital setting not a community setting, so you cannot apply them to the community. The evidence is incredibly weak and more studies, and studies that are able to be replicated, need to be done. RCT's are gold standard for proof.

I wear a surgical mask at work (ICU) but it is an FFP and properly fit tested.

So in the words of Carl Heneghan - we can wear masks or not wear masks, but what we cannot do is claim it is an evidence based policy.

@SBTLove Boris is power hungry too. You will note in my post that I refer to all politicians. And the decision on masks is related to political policy and power/vote gains, like it or not. Politicians are in charge of leading us through this crap and their main drive is to maintain popularity. If you are a regular Mumsnet reader then it would be easy to believe that the majority of people are still shit scared of Covid despite the figures and see masks as a preventative measure. Queue politicians making decisions on mask wearing in frankly ludicrous situations like in a school classroom and most people hailing them as their caring saviour

And yes the Tory failings have been massive, I am no Tory by a long shot. In fact I have voted Labour all my life so I am not defending Bojo and co by any means. But NS is scoring points IMO, she's a politician at the end of the day.

@BottomOfMyPencilCase
In my area the staff are wearing visors and have one way systems in place and I’m
glad of the masks being worn as of Monday.

@Vintagevixen

I've said it before, I'll say it again - there is not ONE randomised controlled trial that proves cloth face masks are effective in any way.

It is not an evidence based policy. Google Carl Heneghan from the centre for evidence based medicine in the UK, he explains the lack of evidence for cloth face coverings well.

It's purely political. If Sturgeon had wanted to reduce the death toll she should have paid attention to care homes in Scotland, or stopped the Nike convention from going ahead in Glasgow that seeded a lot of cases (as should Bojo and co as well of course.)

That’s the thing, it’s hard to produce policy based on evidence when you’re dealing with something as uniques as this with little conclusive evidence to work with. It’s still far to early to tell if wearing masks helps or not. But, it’s worth a shot if schools can stay open. What’s the alternative or the harm in not trying this?

Also, you mention the Nike conference, you might want to read up more on that and not the nonsense reported in hysterical tabloids.