Mask refusal in schools by pupils

Twinklingstarface · 2022-01-07T08:53:34+00:00

Seems it is the pupils rebelling now rather than the parents [[https://apple.news/A41bZE79jR9mZVAzmNVy4uQ]]

MargaretThursday · 07/01/2022 09:30

I saw the article in the BBC so asked my dc about it. They said almost everyone was wearing masks. One said one of her form tried making a little fuss about it, but gave up.
Their school so far has done very well during the epidemic, with only one partial closure in November 2020. Hopefully this will continue.

Comefromaway · 07/01/2022 09:37

I can't really blame them. I wear glasses and have not yet found a mask that does not steam up. I'd not be able to do anything involving reading/writing in a mask for more than a few minutes at a time. And I get dreadfully dehydrated for some reason. If I wear a mask in a shop or cinema etc then I have a bottle of water in my hand and have to sip from it constantly. I work in an office and I could not do my job wearing a mask. I would if I absolutely HAD to, but I would not be very effective.

I feel very sorry for both kids and teachers.

CagneyNYPD1 · 07/01/2022 09:37

I think for some kids, this is the result of the views that they hear in the home. My ds does wear a face mask in school without too much complaint. But then my DH and I wear our face masks without fuss. We just get on with it.

But many children are growing up in a family where the adults refuse to wear face masks, bang on about sheeple etc etc. Those children are not terribly likely to wear a face mask in school IMO.

It all starts in the home and schools are in a very difficult position.

Danikm151 · 07/01/2022 09:39

@Comefromaway

I found making my own mask with a metal strip helped with this. No glasses steam up. Can find patterns online- i used a male your own face cover kit from B&M

Comefromaway · 07/01/2022 09:43

I've tied everything including paying extra for anti fog lenses.

Disposable masks are the best for me in terms of not giving me headaches (I'm assuming for not making me feel so dehydrated)

puppeteer · 07/01/2022 09:54

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Comefromaway · 07/01/2022 09:58

I disagree, I think that masks have been shown to held reduce the spread which is why I happily wear them in shops, cinemas and theatres.

But I could not work all day in one.

Mouseonmychair · 07/01/2022 10:03

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Mouseonmychair · 07/01/2022 10:05

I work in a ffp2 mask most of the day mainly because I have previously worked in a trade where you wear them or die in 30 years time from lung problems. Now I write software wearing one around the office isnt a big deal.

hamstersarse · 07/01/2022 10:05

Given the evidence for them being introduced is bad, I don't think we can blame them or get mad at them really - they are just 'following the science'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59895934

TheChip · 07/01/2022 10:08

I'm surprised they've lasted as long as they have to be honest. I cant blame them and I just hope to god that nobody attempts to shame them for it.

Northsoutheastwest76 · 07/01/2022 10:08

I say it comes from home too. My dds all wear a nasty without argument. Dd1 does mean when doing science experiments but it wouldn't occur to her to not wear it. Compliance in her school is 100% for sixth form abd pretty high in other years.

Northsoutheastwest76 · 07/01/2022 10:09

Unfortunate autocorrect Mask not nasty

trumpisagit · 07/01/2022 10:12

I think compliance is high in my children's school too, but I don't think masks in schools are the answer.
DS1 was the grumpiest and most miserable he had been in months yesterday afternoon.
He said they went out in the rain break and lunch so they didn't have to wear them.
School must be full of soggy children.

TheChip · 07/01/2022 10:13

@Northsoutheastwest76

I say it comes from home too. My dds all wear a nasty without argument. Dd1 does mean when doing science experiments but it wouldn't occur to her to not wear it. Compliance in her school is 100% for sixth form abd pretty high in other years.

Not necessarily. I've got 3, 2 wear them no problem at all. One is really starting to get fed up and has started trying to get away with wearing it below his nose, if not trying to get away with not wearing one at all. I wear one with no complaints so its not coming from me that one of mine is sick of them.

Buzzinwithbez · 07/01/2022 10:33

I didn't tell mine about the rule change as I didn't want to pre-empty how they might feel about returning.
They were a bit perplexed about why most of their class suddenly decided to adopt them, but it can't have been a big deal that they didn't feel a sudden urge to.

changingstages · 07/01/2022 10:49

@puppeteer

Masks do nothing particularly useful. Schools should not be asking pupils to wear them, and then government shouldn’t be asking schools.

this is nonsense and either you know it and you're here maliciously peddling misinformation, or you don't know it and you need to be told that you are talking absolute rubbish. There's a huge amount of evidence.

amicissimma · 07/01/2022 11:04

"this is nonsense and either you know it and you're here maliciously peddling misinformation, or you don't know it and you need to be told that you are talking absolute rubbish. There's a huge amount of evidence."

The BBC article linked above shows that the difference in fall in cases between a school with masks and one without was less than 1%.

hamstersarse · 07/01/2022 11:40

this is nonsense and either you know it and you're here maliciously peddling misinformation, or you don't know it and you need to be told that you are talking absolute rubbish. There's a huge amount of evidence.

The irony

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59895934

changingstages · 07/01/2022 11:58

[quote hamstersarse]this is nonsense and either you know it and you're here maliciously peddling misinformation, or you don't know it and you need to be told that you are talking absolute rubbish. There's a huge amount of evidence.

The irony

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59895934[/quote]
have you actually read the evidence summary? Because this isn't the big 'AHA' moment you think it is. Those figures are from preliminary DfE analysis based on schools reporting. Which come with a lot of caveats and is not peer reviewed.

This is also in the summation:
Face coverings can be effective in contributing to reducing transmission of COVID-19 in public and community settings. This is informed by a range of research, including randomised control trials, contact tracing studies, and observational studies – assessed
most recently by UKHSA, described in a review conducted in November 2021.7 The review’s conclusions were broadly in line with those of a previous Public Health England review; however, the addition of randomised control trials and substantially more
individual-level observational studies increases the strength of the conclusions and strengthens the evidence for the effectiveness of face coverings in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in the community, through source control, wearer protection, and universal masking.

So would you like to explain what the irony is here?

Unanananana · 07/01/2022 12:02

DD13 wears one all the time indoors at school without complaint as do all of her friends. She takes her breaks and lunch outside so she can take it off for a bit. She has also had two jabs and LFTs twice a week as requested by the school.

When I asked her about it she said it was just the 'idiot kids' who cause trouble for the sake of it kicking of about wearing masks. One thing that these kids do regularly say is 'mum says I don't have to wear it'.

I personally don't agree with children having to wear face coverings when their effectiveness has not yet been 100% proven but it is school policy so we abide by it. I (triple jabbed) wear one all the time at work too (customer services/retail) and I hate it. The day when these rags are a thing of the past cannot come soon enough.

Happypootler · 07/01/2022 12:06

@Comefromaway good to hear a moderate position! I feel the same. I'm a teacher. I wear a mask and my kids do too and will while they are told to. But the reality is masks are difficult to wear all day in school for most kids and they are a PITA for classroom learning.

Cherryblossoms85 · 07/01/2022 12:07

I can't really see how masks make much difference, but I can't get too worked up about them. Guess I might have stronger feelings if I had to wear them all day for work.

puppetear · 07/01/2022 12:08

Yet if your objective is to limit absences, then “Schools where face coverings were used in October 2021 saw […] a drop of 2.3 percentage points.”

Which sounds vaguely worth having, right? Until you read on…. “schools which did not use face coverings absences [saw …] a fall of 1.7 percentage points”.

This really is on the margin of effectiveness.

herecomesthsun · 07/01/2022 12:16

So, to start with, schools had a covid rate of 5.3%

The raw data showed a decrease of 43% if pupils wore masks.

When they adjusted for various factors, they found a decrease of 11% if pupils wore masks.

That is in keeping with previous research findings.

However, it sounds like they needed a bigger sample size to show conclusively that findings didn't arise by chance.

The trend however supports mask wearing, and the overall picture is what you'd expect from other studies.

This isn't evidence that mask wearing is ineffective.