Masks in schools

A parent with a 9-year-old child in elementary school asks me,

“Was wondering what would be my best source of action to get these masks off our kids already.”

Here’s my reply:

Dear ______,

The public health decision to require masking of children in schools is a balance between perceived risk and perceived benefit.

While it’s true that masks are no panacea, they do help somewhat to stop transmission from a person who is unknowingly spreading the virus.

But whether it’s “worth it” to require masks depends on how much COVID is circulating in the community. If the virus is rare, there’s little reason to bother with masks. If the virus is running hot, then masks make more sense.

So the first thing to ask is, what are the rates of COVID transmission in your community?

If transmission is high, you will have a hard time convincing someone responsible for the health of a school community to drop the masks, because masks are easy and cheap.
If transmission is low, then I would argue that we don’t need zero COVID, and let’s get on with life.

Most parts of California are still experiencing far more COVID than we were in late June/early July—still high local transmission.

So the question is, how do we get that transmission down? Vaccination is the easiest approach (far less painful than restrictions on movement or gathering).

The best action we can take to get the masks off kids in schools is to widely vaccinate them. As of today, children under age 12 are NOT eligible for vaccination. However, that will probably change within a very short time (days or a week) because
“Yesterday, an FDA advisory committee reviewed data from a clinical trial testing a low-dose version of the vaccine made by Pfizer on children in that age group — and voted nearly unanimously to recommend that the FDA grant the shot emergency approval.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02947-z

The FDA might issue an emergency use authorization for kids very soon.
Note that the vaccine tested in these young children is a lower dose (I think half) than what is in the adult shot.

My advice to parents is put up with the efforts to keep COVID out of schools for another two months—basically until the Christmas holiday break. Get your kid vaccinated. Then put up a fight to ditch the masks for all vaccinated children.

Thank you for contacting me and good luck. It’s been a hell of a year and a half for parents.

Amy Rogers, MD, PhD, is a Harvard-educated scientist, novelist, journalist, and educator. Learn more about Amy’s science thriller novels, or download a free ebook on the scientific backstory of SARS-CoV-2 and emerging infections, at AmyRogers.com.