Anyone else think that all children over 3 should wear a mask?

[yonnie8]

Honestly I don't feel that it is that hard. DD9 (Year 4) says that no one in her school (including teachers) wear a mask or a shield and she is the only one wearing one. DD says that some children in her class cough in each other's faces for a laugh and the teachers do not tell them off or anything. My friend's child is in reception and he has no trouble at all wearing a mask for the whole day.
In my country even babies wear masks and now it is almost back to normal.
I think children especially need to wear masks as they are the ones who get so close up to their friends etc. Even if over 11s wear masks as soon as we get home we would just get all the germs from school that the child took home which makes the cases rise so much here in the UK. In my area there are a lot more confirmed cases in primary schools than secondary schools and sixth forms.
Anyone else share the same opinion?

No

6 is more realistic. Someone on another thread said half of the current cases can be traced back to holidaymakers returning from Spain and not isolating. I’d say if people would follow rules, it would have made and can still make a massive impact. More so than masks.

My DS (5) had to wear one last week for the first time and whilst it surprised me how little it bothered him actually wearing it putting it on and off was a complete faff it was screwed up, it was on the floor god knows how many times, it was sneezed into lots im not convinced how hygienic it was. I could imagine in school they'd get flung off and discarded and end up putting someone else's back on 🤢. It would take practice and timeand patience to get them to wear them properly and look after them hygienically, many adults fail to do this as it is not sure you could expect it from a 3yo

It is against WHO advice.

www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-children-and-masks-related-to-covid-19

"In general, children aged 5 years and under should not be required to wear masks. This advice is based on the safety and overall interest of the child and the capacity to appropriately use a mask with minimal assistance. There may be local requirements for children aged 5 years and under to wear masks, or specific needs in some settings, such as being physically close to someone who is ill. In these circumstances, if the child wears a mask, a parent or other guardian should be within direct line of sight to supervise the safe use of the mask."

If you think your child has the capacity to appropriately use a mask with minimal interference and you can keep them in direct line of sight at all times to supervise the safe use of the mask, rock on...

There's no way I would want my young child wearing a mask at nursery (which is where it would be most useful) without me there to supervise because it impedes breathing and can be dangerous for young children if they can't remove it themselves. The nursery staff already have a lot on their hands...It is not beyond the realms of possibility that they might fail to notice a child in distress hidden behind a cloth until it is too late.

Also, I'm not meaning to be rude, but your suggestion seems a little odd given you have a young child. Do you not understand what children get up to at nursery and pre-school? My DS does singing, reading, running races, climbing, obstacle courses, playing chase, crawling through tunnels. And the nursery staff talk to him as much as possible, asking him about what he is doing and trying to communicate with him. The speech of young children is indistinct enough without muffling it through a mask. And these are all activities for which the mask would need to be removed for safety or practicality reasons (along with for snack time, lunch and drinking water). You'd end up with a whole load of unsanitary, germ-ridden masks littering the place.

No

@SusannaSpider because the op asked if we want them in this country and we do not
We have high cases here long before we managed to do anything
Masks alone don't work its a combination if many things
Making a 3 year old wear a mask is cruel and in some countries its a norm so children and babies have seen from a young age that isn't the case here
What country are you from where the virus was high and is now back to normal ??

Over my dead body my young kids wear masks. You’re a loon.

You are being ridiculous and I'm highly sceptical that teachers are ignoring children coughing in each others faces. I also can't believe you send your DC to school with a face covering.

I've seen it ignored at our school.

DD is at primary school, she takes a mask and wears it when she feels people are too close around her. She asked if she could bring a mask and I said if it made her feel more comfortable that was fine. There's 3 or 4 other kids wear them too.

What's so difficult to believe about that?

No. And babies wearing masks is disgusting.

NO

@MintyMabel why didn't you instead sit down and look at the science with your daughter and explain that there is no risk to her?

why didn't you instead sit down and look at the science with your daughter and explain that there is no risk to her?

Because there is a risk to her. And also a risk to others. She is told by the government that she must wear a mask in shops and other indoor settings even though she can socially distance in those settings but when she gets to school it is entirely ok for her to have her unmasked ASN in the lift with her, for her unmasked teacher to be right next to her, helping her get changed for PE, and for her to sit in a classroom with 27 other kids all day. You might find something in the science that says Covid can't spread in schools but the numbers in schools would suggest it isn't there.

She's not worried that she will get it, she is worried someone will get it from her.

Wearing a mask is not a problem to her and it reduces the risk from low to even lower. Why wouldn't she do that?

Maybe more should follow her example and we'd be in a better place.

Absolutely not.

I'm also wondering where everyone lives that they have never had to put a scarf around a younger child's face in the winter. Maybe it's just up here in Scotland but a scarf over the nose and mouth is necessary on a cold winter day. What's the difference with a mask?

Give over, you bloody lunatic

@MintyMabel absolutely the scientific evidence all points to the risk to primary age children being vanishingly small. They lack the necessary receptors .

@Tootletum It's just window dressing for anxious people

This is a work of poetry and I'm shamelessly stealing it

As for the OP, no

absolutely the scientific evidence all points to the risk to primary age children being vanishingly small. They lack the necessary receptors

And yet the Scottish Government have read the science and have a mask mandate for kids over the age of 5 in all indoor public places except schools. I'll take their word on the science over some random on the internet.

Children can catch and carry Covid. Nowhere does the science say otherwise.

@MrsSnitchnose glad to be of service

Absolutely not... Do you realise what that could do to the mental heth of a 3 year old... Its disgusting to even suggest it!

I'll dig out the actual research for you once the kids are in bed @MintyMabel

No, and they don't seem to helping the situation in general.

Er no. I'm extremely tired of the idea that children are acceptable collateral damage in all this

Good luck getting my just turned 3 yo to wear a mask 😂

My 6 year old and 9 year old go to a school where they can wear masks if they want to as can the staff. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t and I try to encourage it if they have a bit of a cold. No one is bothered at all. Parents are just being ridiculous and precious. If they didn’t make such a big deal of it children would adapt to it easily.

And masks on adults do work! It’s just people are catching it all the places where they don’t wear them! Pubs, in family’s homes, schools, socialising with friends.