I remember how it was -- JR
Evidence Supporting School Mask Mandates Is Weak
Wading into the bitter debate about face mask mandates in schools, President Joe Biden is threatening civil rights lawsuits against states that ban such requirements.
“Some politicians are trying to turn public safety measures — into political disputes for their own political gain,” Biden complained last week, saying his administration won’t “sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children.”
Biden’s framing implies that school officials are indisputably “protecting our children” by forcing them to cover their faces all day, and that anyone who suggests otherwise is motivated only by crass partisan motives. Yet the evidence that the public health benefits of “universal masking” in K-12 schools outweigh its costs is far less impressive than the president suggests.
Other governments seem to recognize that fact. As David Zweig noted in New York Magazine, “many of America’s peer nations around the world — including the U.K., Ireland, all of Scandinavia, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy — have exempted kids, with varying age cutoffs, from wearing masks in classrooms” without experiencing more school-related COVID-19 outbreaks than the U.S. has seen.
The latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by contrast, recommends that everyone, regardless of age or vaccination status, wear face masks in K-12 schools. But the studies the CDC cited to justify that stance generally were not designed to test the effectiveness of mask mandates.
One problem with those studies is that the schools they examined typically implemented several COVID-19 safeguards simultaneously, so there was no way of knowing whether any perceived benefits could be attributed specifically to masking. Another problem: Almost none of the studies compared schools with mask mandates to otherwise similar schools without them, again making causal inferences impossible.
One exception was a CDC study of Georgia schools published in May, which found that COVID-19 infection was 37% less common in schools that required teachers and other staff members to wear masks, similar to the difference associated with “improved ventilation.” But the same study found that requiring students to wear masks was not associated with a statistically significant reduction in case rates.
In Florida, the CDC found that school districts without mask mandates had higher infection rates. But the researchers noted that smaller districts were less likely to require masks, and they also “had a higher proportion of students attending in-person instruction,” which likewise was “positively correlated with the student case rate.”
The CDC says “most studies that have shown success in limiting transmission in schools” involved “prevention strategies” that included requiring “staff only or staff and students” to wear masks. The implication, of course, is that some schools had “success in limiting transmission” even without mask mandates, or with mandates that did not apply to students.
In Florida, where many districts did not require masks, the CDC found that less than 1% of students were infected in schools during the first semester after they reopened in August 2020. During the same period, school-related COVID-19 outbreaks were likewise a minor problem in England, where students were not required to wear masks.
These studies were conducted before vaccines were available. Now that 71% of Americans 12 or older are at least partly vaccinated, school infection rates should be similarly low, even taking into account the prevalence of the especially contagious delta variant.
Assuming that mask mandates in schools do make a difference, the benefits are likely to be small. Adults and older students can more effectively protect themselves by getting vaccinated, and life-threatening COVID-19 symptoms are extremely rare in children and teenagers: The CDC’s “current best estimate” of the infection fatality rate among people younger than 18 is 0.002%.
The costs of requiring masks in schools, meanwhile, include daylong discomfort and stress, obstructed breathing and vision (thanks to fogged eyeglasses) and interference with communication, learning and social interaction. To justify those burdens requires more evidence than mandate enthusiasts have been able to muster.
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/82283-evidence-supporting-school-mask-mandates-is-weak-2021-08-28
********************************************This is what happened with schools in Canada when it passed 70 per cent vaccination
With more than 70 per cent of its eligible population vaccinated, Canada’s approach for sending children back to the classroom would appear straightforward
However, the daily COVID-19 case tally in Canada has exceeded 1000 for the past two weeks. Several provinces centralised online learning a year ago and, for the new school year, parents could select online or in-person learning for children early this month — before the escalation.
While the availability of online learning varies between provinces and schools, an absence of approved vaccines for children under 12 and vaccination rates among teachers and school personnel have made parents wary.
The Toronto district school board, the country’s largest, for example, asked parents to select either in-person or online learning before August 12. As cases escalated after this deadline, families now preferring their children switch to online learning have been pushed to a waiting list.
Virtual learning for the Toronto 2021/22 school year will be centrally provided and will include live, online instruction involving teachers, staff and students from the home school or a group of schools. Superintendents and principals will form these classes, which will follow the daily schedule of school.
In British Columbia, children are expected to return to school though can opt for online learning. “If you are looking for more flexible options to learn at home, please email me and I can connect you with resources/links for exploring online options throughout the province”, one principal wrote to parents.
Last Friday’s update on the return to school timetable did not include any details for expanding the criteria for online distance learning for families who do not want to send their children back.
Vaccine mandates are not in place for teachers across Ontario, Canada’s biggest province, which has halted the re-entry of many students back into school.
The government of Ontario’s health, safety and operational guidance for schools outlines plans to introduce a vaccination disclosure policy for all school board employees. Included in the policy will be rapid antigen testing requirements for staff not immunised against COVID-19.
Students attending elementary school (aged 6-12) in person will be grouped into cohorts with one teacher, while secondary schools will have two in-person classes to make contact tracing manageable. Schools will also implement “enhanced cleaning practices”, whereby high-touch surfaces, such as desks, doorknobs and eating areas, will be cleaned at least twice a day.
Canadian health data shows 73 per cent of the eligible population (aged 12 and older) is vaccinated, or 66 per cent of the total population. Since December 14, unvaccinated people accounted for 88.9 per cent of positive cases.
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Australia: Catholic schools look at value of jewellery, cars before waiving fees for those in lockdown hot spots
Catholic schools are demanding details of parents’ furniture and jewellery before waiving fees for families struggling financially in lockdown hot spots.
Parents applying for fee relief must reveal how much they spend on food, groceries, internet, mobile phones and pay-TV each month.
Some schools expect families to fill in forms resembling bank loan applications, listing all assets including cars, jewellery, furniture, boats, motorbikes, trailers, and “personal effects’’.
Parents have to provide their latest tax return and financial statements, pay slips, credit card and bank statements and rental statements.
In some cases, families are forced to give schools permission to probe their social security details by contacting Centrelink.
A spokeswoman for National Catholic Education (NCE) said it would be “highly unusual to expect families to sell jewellery (or) furniture to pay for school fees if they are expecting financial hardship.’’
The Catholic Archdiocese of Parramatta - one of the dioceses demanding the personal details - said it was reviewing the form it currently sends to parents, after being contacted by News Corp Australia.
He said more than 3000 parents had been given fee relief in 2020.
“The form we are currently using for applications for assistance is under review with a focus on making sure the process is simpler,’’ a spokesman said.
“We acknowledge that some of the details ... are not needed, nor used to determine fee support and so these details are being removed from the form.
“Our dedicated team responds to requests for fee support with care and sensitivity, taking into account the personal circumstances of each family.’’
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
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