New research from Duke University says the widespread use of masks in schools can effectively prevent COVID-19 transmission and provide a safe learning environment without social distancing.
This news comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidance saying all students should be able to return to the classroom even if virus mitigation measures, like mask wearing, aren’t in place.
New CDC guidelines outline numerous strategies that schools can take to help keep students, teachers, and staff members safe ahead of the fall semester – including masking, weekly COVID-19 screenings and testing, and social distancing of at least three feet. However, the agency also stressed that schools should fully reopen even if they aren’t able to implement all these measures.
Dr. Danny Benjamin is a professor of pediatrics in the Duke School of Medicine and the co-chair of the Duke-led ABC Science Collaborative. The collaborative issued a report on Wednesday showing that North Carolina schools were highly successful in preventing the transmission of COVID-19 within school buildings.
He said the past 10 to 12 weeks of analysis indicate that North Carolina is fully capable of preventing transmission at school. The report found in part that masks effectively prevented COVID-19 transmission even without physical distancing in schools and on buses.
“With masking, the schools clearly can safely deliver face-to-face education for children and adults,” Benjamin said. “They can have one, two or three children [per seat] on the school buses. The amount of distancing, whether it’s less than 6 feet, less than 3 feet or no distancing at all, it didn’t make any difference at all, provided there was masking in place.”
Benjamin said these findings mean North Carolina schools don’t have to close or move to remote instruction again, even as a vast majority of students wait to be vaccinated.
While new CDC guidelines imply that fully vaccinated students generally do not need to wear masks in the classroom, they do recommend children ages two or older, who are not fully vaccinated, to wear a mask indoors.
Right now, only children 12 and up are eligible for the vaccine, leaving a huge segment of the younger student population unprotected. While Pfizer is currently the only vaccine authorized for children, Moderna said the results from its clinical trial of adolescents are expected before the end of the year. The company applied for emergency authorization of its vaccine in 12 to 17-year-olds last month. Additionally, Pfizer said it plans to apply this fall for emergency authorization of its vaccine for children between the ages of five and 11.
Although the CDC said it is up to local officials and school districts to decide which COVID precautions to enforce, Benjamin said, after vaccination, masking is the most effective way to stop virus transmission.
“In the mask-on-mask environment, the risk of death from acquiring COVID and dying from it in North Carolina this past year was less than the risk of riding to school in your parent’s automobile,” Benajmin said. “We can effectively prevent morbidity and mortality from this disease, full stop. We have that capability.”
In North Carolina, Governor Roy Cooper’s executive order still requires masks be worn in school settings regardless of vaccination status. The executive order is set to expire at the end of July, unless Governor Cooper extends or changes it.
Lead photo via Juli Leonard/The News & Observer.
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