Government has failed to evaluate potential harms to pupils

[1stMrsF]

It's been reported in the Telegraph and Daily Mail that PHE "did not consider" the negative health impacts of requiring children to wear facemasks in the classroom.

Nick Gibb, Minister for School Standards questioned about this today commented that children 'didn't seem to mind' wearing masks, even though the Government's own survey found that 80% of children are struggling to communicate wearing a mask and more than 50% felt it was affecting their ability to learn.

The government cannot produce any evidence that the benefits of this policy outweigh the potential harms, as the scientific evaluation hasn't been done. Whilst it's possible (but not confirmed) that face coverings in schools will be removed in Step 3 of the government roadmap, this will be at the earliest from 17 May, still 3 weeks away. The government has not confirmed under what criteria this measure will be removed, so still has the ability to push out this date, nor has it ruled out any future reintroduction.

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that wearing mask for prolonged periods can have a negative impact on physical and mental health, especially in children who are more susceptible to the effects.

This article collates information from 44 experimental studies and 65 publications on the side effects of face masks. A wide variety of statistically significant confirmed side effects and dangers are reported and the article notes “Children are particularly vulnerable and may be more likely to receive additional harm” and “repeated exposure over longer periods is relevant. Long-term disease-relevant consequences of masks are to be expected.”

This study published in Germany where data was collected from a total of 25,930 children wearing a face mask for an average of 270 mins a day found that 68% reported impairments including irritability (60%), headache (53%), difficulty concentrating (50%), less happiness (49%), reluctance to go to school (44%), malaise (42%), impaired learning (38%) and drowsiness or fatigue (37%)

The government guidance for schools impels them to 'ensure face coverings are used where recommended' but makes them responsible for carrying out a risk assessment and consequently a legal case is being brought against a UK school and is in court tomorrow. Most schools will be unaware of this terrible position the Department for Education has put them in.

If you share my concerns, please write to your MP asking them to call for facemasks in the classroom to be removed immediately (no school needs a one week notice for this) and permanently, as we cannot continue with any measure for children in the knowledge that safety has not been evaluated.

You can also write to your school, making them aware of this issue. I have no doubt this policy has been implemented in good faith by schools who have dutifully followed all government guidelines without intending to harm children, but it is nonetheless their responsibility to safeguard the children in their care.

it is nonetheless their responsibility to safeguard the children in their care.

What about the teachers?

Oh give over.
In school in masks to keep them in face to face education and protect school staff is better than the virus taking off again and everything closing down.

I hope it remains to protect the adults. Their health matters just as much.

Where's the yabu button when you need it?

Absolute bollocks. I work in a school overseas, and all our pupils over the age of 6 have been fully masked at all times for over a year now (including me). There are no impacts.

Can I suggest if you don't agree that you scroll on? This isn't AIBU. I don't think this is receiving the press coverage it deserves (probably because people are far more excited about Boris' curtains) and I want to raise awareness.

With respect feesh that's great for you, but it's not my personal experience at all.

@SionnachRua

Where's the yabu button when you need it?

Did you write to your MP about the soaring covid rates in secondary schools between Sept and Dec caused by lack of facemasks and any other mitigation measures in classrooms?

What about the harms caused by out of control covid spread that led to the spiralling rates of infection and deaths that meant schools had to close again in January?

I wrote to my MP about that.

No idea why that quoted Sionnach's post, I was replying to the OP.

@1stMrsF

Can I suggest if you don't agree that you scroll on? This isn't AIBU. I don't think this is receiving the press coverage it deserves (probably because people are far more excited about Boris' curtains) and I want to raise awareness.

With respect feesh that's great for you, but it's not my personal experience at all.

The whole point of a discussion forum is just that. A discussion. Sometimes people will disagree with you and that is one of the risks you take when starting a thread.

As it happens, employers have a legal duty of care towards their employees with regard to health and safety. If that means that a few kids get miserable because they have to wear a mask at school then so be it. Better that than dead teachers.

Better that than dead teachers.

Kids were catching it at school and taking it home to their family members. It wasn't just swilling around schools, it was leaking out into the community.

The lack of mitigation measures in secondary schools before Christmas was a disaster.

Wearing masks maybe a minor inconvenience, but most children are intellegent and unselfish enough to understand that it is to protect more vulnerable members of their families/society and to stop the virus from coming back. Unlike some adults it seems. What a brainless campaign.

Well this is super good timing, as I’ve just found out we have four positive cases at school if only masks had been banned, we could have had more!

Wonder if I need to get ds on here to tell you if his long covid is more hassle than wearing a mask...

I liked it when the anti-lockdowners tried to get the hashtag NoMasksInClass trending, and it was hijacked by loads of teenagers telling them to shut the fuck up, stop speaking for them, and that they were personally fine with masks.

Can I suggest if you don't agree that you scroll on?

No. You don't get to dictate whether people agree with you or not and whether they post to that effect.

I've been doing exams today. 200 kids, only one with a lanyard, everyone else wearing a mask like it's second nature. It's not brilliant from a safety point of view because most of them pull their masks down a bit to talk to each other but it helps them so it's a compromise.

Stop hand-wringing and crying won't someone think of the children. They're fine. Or they will be if the grown ups stop telling them they're not.

it is nonetheless their responsibility to safeguard the children in their care.

Do you not think schools have a duty to safeguard their staff too or don't you think that matters? You didn't answer earlier.

I understand the point of a discussion forum, but if you have no interest in listening to my point of view and considering whether it impacts yours, before posting, that isn't a discussion either.

I understand completely the need to protect those working in a school (I work in a school). My point is that this policy has been put in place without considering whether there is a negative impact on children, and that is wrong. The government would rather inflict a policy that has not been evaluated on children than back down on vaccinating key workers.

Sadly, there is little evidence that masks benefit either children or teachers either. The response my MP obtained from Nick Gibb, Schools Minister, could only offer that face masks used in the class room may reduce transmission by 7-45% and that figure is based on studies involving symptomatic cases in laboratory conditions. Given that this is a population offered testing twice a week (so unlikely to be symptomatic) the actual reduction in transmission is unknown. Even if these figures can be relied upon, the prevalence of COVID in my area (appreciate not all areas) is almost zero so there thousands of secondary school aged children (living in the same area) wearing masks all day every day for a possible reduction in transmission of not even one or two cases.

The studies that have been done show much more than a minor inconvenience or being 'miserable'.

I certainly don't want to tell teenagers that they can't wear masks either by the way, they should be able to make up their own mind, but I don't think that they have been provided with the information to make an informed decision. We were led to believe that the government is led by the science, and by their own admission, that is not the case here.

You’ll find more agreement if you pop back to the Us4Them page you came from.

My children and their friends love wearing them. It makes them feel safer in the absence of any other mitigating measures. They don't want their teachers to be ill. Many of them caught covid when pupils were unmasked and are still really struggling. I hope the masks stay and so do they.

The government would rather inflict a policy that has not been evaluated on children than back down on vaccinating key workers.

It’s not just about key workers, it’s about the families of the kids in school. It’s about managing covid rates within the population.

It’s about this graph from before Christmas. Have you considered the harms of those infection rates?

The studies that have been done show much more than a minor inconvenience or being 'miserable'

They’re not even miserable. Stop this ‘won’t somebody think of the children’ handwringing, they don’t want to be used as pawns by anti-lockdowners.

My children are also desperate to stay in school and will do anything to help that happen. Masks are not a problem.

We do know that mask wearing is delaying speech in young children. Little evidence that teachers became ill and died but I get their concern. We do need to think about our youngest children and mask wearing adults are not helping with phonics - that’s definitely established!

No kids at my school have an issue with it, they recognise their importance.

The ones that can't have exemption cards/lanyards.

They get annoyed when adults tell them what they think.

Overwhelming support for masks as they just want to be in school after all the disturbance to the last 2 years.

Go back to your soapbox.

Erm kids of phonics age don't wear masks?

@PresentingPercy

We do know that mask wearing is delaying speech in young children. Little evidence that teachers became ill and died but I get their concern. We do need to think about our youngest children and mask wearing adults are not helping with phonics - that’s definitely established!

Kids learning phonics aren’t wearing masks and neither do their teachers.