AIBU: If They Make Children Wear Masks, I'm Homeschooling

[DamnYankee]

Social distancing at our schools is not possible.
I would love to get back to work in the fall as a public school teacher. However, we are being asked/encouraged (over the age of 3) to wear masks in public places.
My DD (11) panics when she has to wear a mask for more than 20 minutes. I get it. I get a headache after 30 minutes.
I understand this is projecting, but just keeps going through my mind...
Ugh.

Facebook memes provide such valuable scientific evidence.

Polkadots the children, after the first couple of years of secondary, don't all do the same subjects so how would that work?

Sigh. Good job I don’t teach science, I guess.

Yes I agree that mandatory masks might help , I just have serious doubts about compliance and yes the material needs to be washed at 60% . As an amateur sewer I notice that the vast majority of my stash is not suitable for washing at 60. Calico maybe.
Some practicalities just don't seem to be considered.

You can see from this thread why the masks issue is so difficult. In a perfect world where everyone had a medical grade mask, they would help slow the spread.

However were in a world where people are using all sorts of things as a mask, they are ill fitted, people take them on and off multiple times, take them down to talk etc and this is where the science has shown it can have no impact on transmission and in some cases make catching coronavirus more likely.

A man in Sainsbury’s sneezed explosively in the fruit aisle on Monday. All I could think of on the way round, was the woman stood opposite him in her paper mask which was now sodden with the droplets of his sneeze. I really can’t see the point in the everyday use of mask wearing.

Mistress that's true. I suppose for the first few years it could work? My school didn't set for anything for the first three years so you were always with your class, and (before sixth form) we all had science/English/maths at the same time.

I was just thinking in terms of people touching desks or things. Maybe if you had x classrooms set aside for each year, so you limit where they go? I'm trying to think of a way of minimising contact through surfaces and also numbers of pupils in corridors. Then you could argue the safety measures from that reduce transmission so much that masks are less necessary.

I suspect it has to be done separately for each school though.

Do they not realise that washing a scarf at 60' degrees would destroy it?

Really? I have a drawerful of cotton scarves that you could wash however you liked.

I'm glad I don't have to try to timetable that! I do have concerns about multiple teachers using one room, keyboards, mice and chair arms would need disinfected between classes, as one teacher could infect the next one and so on.

The teachers might be more compliant than the children though. I suppose there are ways around some of it (each teacher has their own wireless keyboard. or keyboard cover or something) but it's very different to how schools are usually run.

I suspect that there's going to be quite a lot of very busy directors of study/timetablers in the next few months if everybody has to go back part time to manage socially-distanced rooms.

If someone indicated to me that they needed to lip read, I would just lower my mask.

Masks are a macro measure that HELPS with social distancing and hygiene rather than replacing them, meaning that we can push the R0 down by getting most people to wear masks mostly correctly most of the time. It is OK if a few people cannot tolerate masks, it is OK to lower a mask for occasional essential tasks. We can work around these issues.

Other countries are getting on with this process rather than just sitting there like a bunch of ninnies saying things like "Well, there are a few people who can't wear masks, therefore we should forget about masks and nobody should wear one, and then we will all just stay in lockdown for the next two years so that everyone can be in exactly the same position!"

LOLing at someone saying that masks would be a waste of time because children would have to lower masks for music lessons. Look, primary schools are probably going to be confining themselves to teaching the absolute essential basics to kids who are only in there on a short-hours staggered basis. If you want your kids to learn music, it'll need to be done through some sort of online instruction.

Lowering masks to talk is more risky though because you're putting your hands near your mouth multiple times. Better off not bothering with the mask. Plus is your hands put the virus on the mask, the mask is then right next to your mouth for hours which equals more chance of it getting in your system.

All I could think of on the way round, was the woman stood opposite him in her paper mask which was now sodden with the droplets of his sneeze.

Preventing accidental coughs and sneezes from infecting others is one of the main rationales for wearing a mask. If the woman had not been wearing a mask, that body fluid would be all over her face and she would have breathed it in (as it is, she can remove it, throw it away in the rubbish bin, and then give her hands a good wash afterwards). If the man had been wearing a mask, the sneeze would have been mostly caught and contained.

Lowering masks to talk is more risky though because you're putting your hands near your mouth multiple times. Better off not bothering with the mask. Plus is your hands put the virus on the mask, the mask is then right next to your mouth for hours which equals more chance of it getting in your system.

That must explain why countries which have adopted mask use have seen their cases and deaths going up compared to the countries which refuse to use masks.

Oh wait, hang on.....

Washing a scarf at 60 degrees will not destroy it.

I teach textile science. It may stink it but it will not destroy it. Unless it was wool and you washed it in bleach, then it would destroy it

take them down to talk etc and this is where the science has shown it can have no impact on transmission and in some cases make catching coronavirus more likely that isn't what the good science is saying, and it isn't the evidence coming out of countries like Czechia.

This is a video message from Czechia a country which has very low death rates from covid which explains that their use of facemasks has been the distinguishing factor

that isn't what the good science is saying, and it isn't the evidence coming out of countries like Czech.

Yup.

Surface transmission (touching something with virus on it, then touching your eye or mouth etc.) is possible with this virus, but appears to be quite hard, because the amounts of virus you get exposed to via surface transmission are just so small.

The big risks are coming from breathing in infected droplets. Masks help by cutting the dose of virus that is breathed in (and, in particular, by physically blocking the massive gobs of virus that you would get exposed to if someone were to cough or sneeze near your face).

Viral dose matters a lot with this virus. When your immune system encounters a tiny bit of virus, it can usually rally and fight it off. The bigger the dose of virus, the higher the chance that the immune system will simply be overwhelmed before it has had a chance to work out how to tackle the virus, increasing the risk of infection and also increasing the risk of severe symptoms.

The effects are even greater if the infected person is the one wearing the mask.

@Kokeshi 123 but she didn’t remove the mask. That was my point. She continued around the shop with the mask on, nicely moistened by his droplets of sneeze. I’ve seen so many people wandering round, masks under their chins whilst they stop for a chat, masks covering mouths but not noses, masks with gaps at the side or too and bottom. They make people complacent.

that isn't what the good science is saying,

There's good and bad science now

@Hercwasonaroll there’s always been good and bad science.

They’re only effective for 30 minutes, after that they become porous.

I would prefer mine wear masks, if not to protect themselves to protect others aeound them. They would get used to it ut they do not have sensory issues, I can see how that would cause major issues!

This is what I mean by protecting other people...

ah! that's the pee one that I saw on Facebook!