Why won't the government insist that children wear masks at school?

[cansu]

I am a teacher and I want to be at work. I hate remote learning. However I am more worried now than I have ever been about covid. I really wish that we could see the govmt really try much harder to make school safer and really listen to staff.
I do not understand why we are so reluctant to ensure the use of masks in school environments and I include primary in this.
All children, except for those whose special needs prevent it, wear a mask in school lessons and in all communal areas inside. No mask = no school. If parents send their child in without a mask, they are sent home. If pupils refuse to wear them, they are sent home.

I am a hearing impaired primary school teacher and if my pupils wear masks I will not be able to lip read.

@Windyone

Secondary pupils and teachers in Scotland have to wear masks in school at all times.

Yet we're still being told online learning until at least 18th January, and most probably beyond that.

Why do people think masks are a magical immunity shield which prevent all ills?

I teach in an ASD specialism primary- sensory wise it would be impossible for 90% of the kids, us wearing masks would make communication very difficult and hazardous when helping children in distress. Same would go for visors.

Mine wear masks in corridors and I'd have no worries about them during lessons. I'd rather they wore masks than were off school indefinitely

I don't think it will be effective with younger primary school children. They will exchange masks, pull them down, lose the masks half way through the day and it would be a complete nightmare to enforce. Also how would you police exemptions? Presumably if a parent said their child was exempt (asthma, severe excema worsened by mask etc) the school would have to take their word for it.

My ds is at an independent school and in the last week before Xmas, the teachers handed out Xmas masks with snowmen or holly on, just for fun.

The younger kids loved them and wore them happily. Some of the teenagers weren't keen but probably 80% wore masks without being compelled, which would have reduced any virus particles significantly.

When my teenager goes back to school, which won't be until February, masks are to be compulsory in secondary schools (N Ireland).

I am a TA. I wear a mask in all communal areas but not in classrooms. It is SO hard to teach while wearing one and enforcing the wearing of them in children would be a nightmare.
I don't know what the answer is but making children wear masks in class is not it.

Children (and many adults tbf) can’t handle them in a hygienic way.

You’re supposed to wash your hands first and put them on without touching the inside, not touch the mask and when removing, wash hands, remove and dispose of like clinical waste, then wash hands again. If you’re not careful, you could trap the virus between the mask and the face.

Can you imagine children doing all of this? Similar argument to globes being less hygienic because of the way they’re used, rather than because they are less hygienic.

I don't think anyone thinks that masks are the silver bullet to prevent transmission.

Just that evidence suggests that they reduce it.

YANBU

Unfortunately many people just do not want to be told what to do/how to live. We are lucky we live in a very free society and that has suddenly had to change due to a pandemic. Many can’t stand being told what to do and wish to use their common sense and this also applies to their children

Of course we know some can not wear a mask

And we know others are just entitled. I agree let young children wear the masks of their choice and they will happily get on with it

We are no different to the billions of others around the world who are managing to get on with life wearing a mask yes so many here seem to think they are

No one likes how things are at the moment

Because "adults" make excuses for them

@Scumble I am a hearing impaired primary school teacher and if my pupils wear masks I will not be able to lip read.
The answer is for you to support children’s learning from home or be placed on special leave. Not potentially have more a Covid-19 deaths/pressure on the nhs so you can carry on teaching in school.
That’s the issue with the not closing schools or no masks wearing . Everyone has a reason why it’s negative but those negatives never ever compare to the negatives of serious illness or death.

+I see your reasoning op but it would be a nightmare to enforce in lower primary school. Its hard enough doing everything that needs to be done without the added hand washing, sanitising and then add in constantly stopping teaching to tell timmy to put his mask on for the 99th time that morning. Plus take into consideration children like my son who needs daily speech therapy and needs to see whole faces to understand anything*

KIds wear masks all the time except for playtime where I am, and it works out fine. Mask wearing does not require a whole bunch of fiddly rules. You just put the mask on and you wash it or throw it away at the end of the day. I understand that there can be challenges for kids with hearing or communication difficulties, but the alternative is that schools will be constantly closing, and that's not great for those kids either.

You’re supposed to wash your hands first and put them on without touching the inside, not touch the mask and when removing, wash hands, remove and dispose of like clinical waste, then wash hands again.

Erm, nobody does this kind of thing in the countries where mask wearing was the norm from the start of the pandemic and which have had far fewer cases and few deaths. We are talking about wearing a mask to block off droplets spraying from your mouth as you talk, not someone masking up to perform surgery in a sterile operating theater!

If you’re not careful, you could trap the virus between the mask and the face.

What on earth does this even mean? If there is a virus there it will be one that you yourself have just breathed out, meaning that by definition you are infected already!

[quote AldiAisleofCrap]**@Scumble* I am a hearing impaired primary school teacher and if my pupils wear masks I will not be able to lip read.*
The answer is for you to support children’s learning from home or be placed on special leave. Not potentially have more a Covid-19 deaths/pressure on the nhs so you can carry on teaching in school.
That’s the issue with the not closing schools or no masks wearing . Everyone has a reason why it’s negative but those negatives never ever compare to the negatives of serious illness or death.[/quote]
Jeez, that's a bit strong.

Where I live in the US all kids over the age of 2 have been masked since April. My kids went to summer camp fully masked (including my then 3 year old). They had not a single case. Then, they have been back in school, fully masked. And we have had not a single day of closure. The kids don’t care. They are delighted to see their friends. They have designated mask free zones where they can go and sit and read and draw and paint. And they are strongly encouraged to do so. We are in New England and despite the extreme cold (we have just had two snowstorms) the kids are also outside getting fresh air.
Our city’s rules are simple. If you step outside the house wear a mask. No taking on and off to get on and off a bus. And I can count on one hand the number of people I have seen mask less.
I have been following the mask hysteria on MN for months and I have been so baffled by it.

They do in so many other countries. But British children must be a breed apart, unable to understand simple instructions and ready to suffocate as soon as they even see a mask. But then their parents are hardly better, so it is more realistic to just lock them down.

Yeah cos masks are doing a great job of preventing spread.
I’ve said thus a few times now - in my kids secondary of 1600 pupils - less than 10 positive cases since sept. 10. And we’re in tier 4

The hysteria is far more scary than the reality.

It's so bizarre... Barbados, Singapore all sorts of places kids manage to wear masks in school and other places but in the UK it's too problematic to put even as a general guideline.

I don't think a mask would survive a day on my 5yo at school. Perhaps my 7 yo could manage, I've got them 2 each since March just in case but they rarely wear them with any success. I think older than that could work. Why do teachers not wear visors/masks all day? I know they do in secondary but surprised primary teachers at my children's school only wear them when outside or in school communal areas.

@millymollymoomoo

Yeah cos masks are doing a great job of preventing spread. I’ve said thus a few times now - in my kids secondary of 1600 pupils - less than 10 positive cases since sept. 10. And we’re in tier 4

The hysteria is far more scary than the reality.

The cold hard statistics show the reality.

At the end of the last term, each of these things were demonstratively true:
Secondary school children were the most infected age group in the country.
Primary school children were the second most infected age group in the country.
Educational settings had the highest level of transmission of all settings.

Your anecdotal evidence is, ultimately, irrelevant.

I'm all for it but do masks really make that much difference? I'm not against wearing one at all and my son is happy to wear one at school - but I don't think they're really going to make a huge difference if they're non medical, worn all day and not changed, handled wrongly, taken on and off to eat and drink etc.
Happy to do anything to make schools safer and try to protect teaching staff but I'm not sure masks will make much difference when schools are so over crowded. I appreciate it's better than doing absolutely nothing I just don't think it makes schools safe.

@WhoLettheCatOut
Why do teachers not wear visors/masks all day?

Two reasons:
1 - the DfE have directly instructed them not to. The guidance explicitly state that staff do not require PPE and so should not wear them. Schools are even required to have a set routine to ensure that students and staff remove face coverings when entering the building.
2 - visors are not an effective protection if not combined with a mask. Masks are only effective protection when worn by the majority of people in a space. So one person wearing a mask and visor would have little to no effect.

@Windyone

Secondary pupils and teachers in Scotland have to wear masks in school at all times.

Isn’t it only s4-s6?