Is anyone concerned about the health implications of mask-wearing in school?

[Noodlevonstrudle]

Just that really. With the best will in the world children and teens are likely to be touching their face way more wearing a mask than they ever would otherwise. There will be masks dropped on the floor, stuffed in pockets, left in the bottom of bags and then put back on again. It worries me a lot that not only will they be ineffective against Covid but that they will actually be harmful.

It wasn't just aimed at you, Mango, tbh.

It was aimed at every sad-sack tosspot who has ever tried to change how I post, or stop me posting by 'helpful advice', insults, faux concern about my mental health, lies about me, pile-ons, petitioning MNHQ to ban me/stop me posting.

I do not care what you think of me. Literally zero regard. Some people really, really don't seem to get that.

I have to add that your child could be infected with the virus and transmitting it to other people.
If you don't send them in a mask you're putting all their colleagues and their families ar risk.

We wear masks to gain some protection for ourselves. But also, and mainly, to give protection to all around us. Un case we are infected. And, particularly, if we seem healthy because we don't show up symptoms or don't show up symptoms YET.
People are highly infectious a couple of days before symptoms, so an infected child can easily transmit it to many other children before anyone even realises they are infected. Even with the tests.

If all the children in class wear masks and keep some distance indoors, they and their families are much more protected.

I'm sure if you ask any child they don't want to see their parents sick. Or their dad in hospital.

Have any of the anti-masks stopped to consider the mental burden on a child who took the illness home and one of their parents ends up in ICU, for example? Is that fair on them because you refuse to have them wear masks?

Can’t speak for younger children but our teen is extremely sensible and hygienic. Was only in Colege for a few days in September, wore a mask all day and sanitised hands regularly. Changed mask after eating lunch.
No problems at all 🤷‍♀️

is it mandatory or not, I thought it was but some one said its only guidance.

The guidance makes clear is is only "recommended" that masks are worn in secondary classrooms where SD is not possible with exceptions for or etc. testing is voluntary.

The guidance says ‘You must always ensure that face coverings are used in recommended circumstances.

So they recommended them in classrooms and said that recommendation must always be followed.

Anything else is yet another u-turn.

www.itv.com/news/2021-02-25/covid-tests-and-face-masks-not-compulsory-but-recommended-at-schools-says-education-minister

It is a disciplinary matter. But discipline can include quite a range of measures, can't it.

Do you mean a disciplinary matter in school? No, it’s not. Masks and tests are not compulsory and children cannot be ‘disciplined’ in school for refusing either (if that’s what you are referring to?)

Whether anyone agrees or disagrees, that is how it is. A school cannot punish a child for not wearing a mask or not taking a test.

I'm not worried about the health effects, no, based on our family's experience.

My teens have been wearing masks to school and work since last Sept without any issues. Their teeth and health are both fine - have recently had a dental check-up and their annual physical with the doc.

The schools offer online-only education for those who would rather not wear masks, but mine much prefer wearing masks and going into school over online-only (which they did from March to June last year).

DS is taking part in the school play this year - they're managing to do in-person, socially-distanced rehearsals - and the school has just restarted indoor choir and band rehearsals, which DD and DS are both really pleased about.

They're also managing to do quite a few sports while wearing masks. So far the school/community has run American football, soccer, baseball, ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball, athletics and a few others I'm sure I've forgotten. The students are just wearing their masks and getting on with it.

Yeah for the most part they will but schools can’t tell children they have to stay home because they don’t want to/ can’t wear a mask as it’s not compulsory. Most will but it isn’t mandatory.

@Jamboree01

Do you mean a disciplinary matter in school? No, it’s not. Masks and tests are not compulsory and children cannot be ‘disciplined’ in school for refusing either (if that’s what you are referring to?)

Whether anyone agrees or disagrees, that is how it is. A school cannot punish a child for not wearing a mask or not taking a test.

At one point, very recently, the ministers involved definitely said it was not compulsory as such but was a disciplinary matter for the school.

Of course, they seem to have been changing their minds quite a lot, so they may have rowed back on that as well, who knows.

From the Telegraph 6 days ago

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/24/schools-told-not-punish-pupils-refuse-wear-masks/

"Officials [from the D of E] believe the wearing of masks should be treated like any other disciplinary issue and that it is up to schools to decide how to implement their own behaviour codes, but students should not miss out on learning as a punishment for not wearing a mask."

Any child not wearing a mask (other than genuine medical exemptions) will not be entering my classroom. It is the only scrap of protection provided by this government for the adults who work in schools. Those children who won’t wear a mask can take a book, read it and work on a task elsewhere. It won’t be my problem to work out where that ‘elsewhere’ might be.

I won’t be policing it in my classroom.
I don’t care if they do or don’t wear them.

Your call, Quidditch. My call is they will wear them or they won’t come in my classroom. It’s got the point where we need to focus on ourselves and doing what works best for us. No one else really cares what we do as long as the schools are open anyway.

They’re wearing them for 3 weeks till Easter. A grip may be needed.
The U-turn awaits.

And didn't Saint Boris himself say at one point "masks in the classroom would be farcical"? U-turn again.

I think one of the biggest health issues of NOT wearing a mask at our secondary is the flack your kids will get.

Peer pressure when used for good is an amazing thing

The point is, as a teacher, that’s not your call to make. You cannot discriminate against a student who doesn’t wear a mask for whatever reason because wearing a mask in the classroom is not compulsory. All of the grey areas have been ,and still are being, thrown back onto schools who are already under huge pressure.

hamstersarse
Has anyone noticed 18.5m people who are most at risk have been vaccinated?

and there are some at risk that haven't

I think some people are never going to ditch their masks.

Supposition and a dig at people

I’ve tried to fathom why, but there is no logical reason.

Non that fit your remit

We’ve been repeatedly told that schools are not a source of high transmission,

We were also told that they were vectors of transmission and that secondary school children had the highest rate of transmission, yet the narrative changes every time schools open. Its not hard to understand why.

and we all surely know this virus is not harmful to children.

We really don't know this. The "research" that has been done has mainly been done whilst schools are closed yet the statistics produced are always averaged across the full length of the lockdown, so are not a true indicator of what is/maybe happening at all.

Just another point.

But if twats4themselves and the other the politic groups have there way, masks will be removed from classrooms (and possibly even corridors) after the Easter review.

It would be worth knowing how such organisations have so much sway with the government.

The point is there are so many grey areas, the individual is left to make decisions (so the government can remain woolly). I still don’t think schools are ‘safe’. The one mitigation thrown to me is that children should wear masks. If they aren’t, they won’t be entering my classroom. If they enter my classroom refusing to wear a mask, I will leave. At that point I will send a Section 44 letter. By the time the legalities are done, the Prime Minister will have reversed the decision about masks anyway - but by then, more teachers should have been vaccinated and the situation has changed.

A child (without medical reasons) who isn’t wearing a mask can still receive an education so isn’t being discriminated against. They might be sitting in a room, at home, staring at a screen but I think most parents will accept that if their own children are being taught by a teacher in the classroom. If the alternative is a teacher is teaching from a screen, the non-mask wearer might find themselves highly unpopular.

For goodness sake, allow teachers SOMETHING. Three weeks of mask wearing isn’t much to ask.

My point is that the governments decision is that mask wearing isn’t compulsory and that children cannot be sent home for not wearing one. It’s up to the government to ‘allow teachers something’ and they haven’t. You won’t be able to remove a child from your classroom for not wearing a mask. That’s not down to me. That’s just a fact.

A child has the right to an education. That could be in another room via video or at home. I have a right to a safe working environment. All workers can use Section 44 if that is compromised. The suggestion that masks should be worn would be enough for Section 44 to be considered valid. Other parents and children might react quite strongly to the family whose decision not to wear a mask takes their teacher out of their class. That child may find it is preferable to learn elsewhere.

I’m all for teachers submitting a section 44 if children refuse to wear masks in the classroom and I’m not a teacher. I just want everyone to be safer including vulnerable children who can’t get the vaccine yet. If teenagers can’t wear a mask like almost every other country successfully schooling during Covid then that doesn’t say a lot about our youth of today. My child’s school had a vulnerable teacher who wanted to keep working and all of the children wore a mask for her Spanish lesson. And they range from age 7-11. Not one of them turned a hair. They knew they were doing it to keep her safe. We parents understood why and wearing masks was preferable to her not being in as she is a bloody good and inspirational Spanish teacher. Children not wearing masks should not trump anyone else’s safety and that is the bottom line.