Reuse of damp, screwed up, dropped on floor masks and increase of respiratory illness in school children

[Treesofwood]

Do people really think school children will be able to hygienically manage masks? I reckon they should use them for a day, wipe them in a petri dish in science and then see the outcome. It would be an excellent lesson.

Oh and here is a interesting link. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150422121724.htm

[quote Treesofwood]Oh and here is a interesting link. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150422121724.htm[/quote]
“ "We should be cautious about cloth mask use in healthcare settings, particularly high-risk situations such as emergency departments, intensive care, paediatric or respiratory wards."

How is this relevant? Unless you’re saying that schools are as high-risk a setting as emergency departments, which is a different discussion altogether.

They need to use them on public transport to get there anyway.

Actually i expect there would be a drop in things like asthma. Ear infections etc.

The only pupils likely to be wearing them are secondary age, and possibly only the older years groups within secondary

I really don't see why they would be any different to the rest of the adult sized population in terms of how they handle their masks

Well, of they do a school trip around the covid wards then better masks would be preferable.

Surely much of this is "no shit Sherlock" stuff?
I see sciencedaily is a scooper-upper of science based news ("aggregates news articles from the scientific community") and "lightly edits" for its audience.
It should perhaps think of rebranding as Stating the Bleeding Obvious Daily if "masks get mucky" is its Eureka moment.

I'll stick with the WHO on reflection.

Redolent "The authors speculate that the cloth masks' moisture retention, their reuse and poor filtration may explain the increased risk of infection."

Winnie, have you walked around an Aldi or sainsburys recently? Watch how people handle them, get them out, put them on, fiddle with them, pull them down, have their nose hanging out. There are plenty of pathogens other than covid that can infect our lungs. Infact one of the main causes of pneumonia is a naturally occurring bacteria who overtakes the careful valance. I wouldn't be surprised if there is faecal matter on a mask if they were tested after a day of put it on take it off nonsense in school.

They manage it in other countries.

Balance not valance

If these are concerns, I’d suggest public messaging on how to use them not feebly giving up.

The WHO? They have done an amazing job in preventing the transmission of a world wide pandemic.

Badabbot schoolchildren often struggle to manage the organisation needed of a normal school day. Have you met any year 7 children recently?
The masks will be germ ridden, damp and filthy.

@Treesofwood

Do people really think school children will be able to hygienically manage masks? I reckon they should use them for a day, wipe them in a petri dish in science and then see the outcome. It would be an excellent lesson.

Why would we assume our children are unable?

It's easy to educate, easy to explain why and easy to demonstrate.

Unless children in the uk are significantly thicker than the ones around the rest of the world I'm sure they'll cope.

Expect huge protests if kids are forced to wear masks in schools.

@Treesofwood

Badabbot schoolchildren often struggle to manage the organisation needed of a normal school day. Have you met any year 7 children recently? The masks will be germ ridden, damp and filthy.

Oh so you do think most of the school population are useless.

Most year 7's are perfectly able to organise themselves.

Some children will struggle. Including my own ds with severe executive function issues.

But then again, as a parent I put in the extra time required to teach him and embed the skills.

If people can’t wear a mask properly then they will infect themselves. Wearing a mask is to protect others so wearing it stops fluid particles getting into the air. Fiddle as much as you like, wearing it reduces the transmission to others and if you really can’t work out not to fiddle with it it’s your problem.

The WHO unfortunately can only advise. And advise it has done.
That individual governments act upon that advice or not isn't down to the scientists.

None of which, in any case, makes me any less "so?" about the content of an article "lightly edited" from a scooper-upper online source.

I’m not convinced about taking them off and on if corridor only (although sounds more reasonable in theory) and also of wearing them all day. Wearing in a shop etc for 30mins makes more sense.

What is the latest on how long is best?

Are you lumping all children into one group? I should imagine a High school child can manage with a mask much better than a year 3. Older children shouldn't be detrimented against.

I'm not sure whether it's parents doubting their own children or posters in general just doubting all children. Unfortunately, it's a typical opinion that permeates all of our society in England. We put our children down, treat them as incapable and then wonder why they lack resilience when things are challenging.

Rather than engage in discussions about supporting children to wear masks better/teachers demonstrating/parent leaflets/tv adverts etc. we immediately jump to how it's not fair and they won't cope.

Certainly the older year groups (9-11) are capable of dealing with this. I would trust more of the students I teach to handle them better in school than some of their parents in shops/indoor places. Give our children the chance to mature and be responsible and they might surprise you!

At the moment many students will be required to wear them on buses to school yet take them off when they enter anyway, so this isn't really much different to wearing in corridors.

We should be doing everything we can to keep schools open not just tick the box by opening them at the start of September.

My teens have been wearing them at work for months-they wear them in shops, on buses and are perfectly fine. Children in other countries also manage them perfectly well.

I am very pleased that Scotland have made that decision for schools based on the WHO recommendations and hope England follow.

...in a week or two, after claiming that of course they won’t, I expect.

Why on earth can't they manage?

Scotland are requiring them for movement around the school and once at your desk they can be taken off,

That is in line with offices, restaurants and so on.

I would be very interested to see an analysis on pathogen present on a mask at the end of the school day. Even ones used relatively carefullyI think it's awful to push this on children. Especially with no evidence they even work!

I think they can manage what Scotland is doing pretty easily, it’s just whether reusing the same one each time is making it ineffective (standard hygiene is pretty hot on not reusing isn’t it?)

Then if you move to all day to avoid this it’s discomfort for mask wearing that may be too long - that had also been raised by WHO at one point I believe

Ie they mentioned optimal time before changing mask, it was pretty short iirc