Science shows that masks work to prevent Covid transmission in schools:
This poster reads, “We All Breathe The Same Air.” Below, in smaller letters, it reads:
“A study that used wastewater signals to identify cases of Covid-19 found that even a small increase int he proportion of people wearing masks at elementary schools in one California county significantly reduced the chance of a case. For each 10% increase in the proportion of people wearing a mask in elementary schools, there was a 47% decrease in the probability of a case of Covid-19 in the next 5 days.”
Source: Fielding-Miller, et al. Abstract 210. Presented at: Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections; Feb 19-22, 2023; Seattle
Why is protecting kids from Covid at school so important?
A June 2023 study published by JAMA Network Open took a look at 850,000 US household Covid-19 transmissions from October 2019 - October 2022. They found that 70.4% of all of these cases started with a child. The study’s authors wrote, “Once US schools reopened in fall 2020, children contributed more to inferred within-household transmission when they were in school, and less during summer and winter breaks, a pattern consistent for 2 consecutive school years."
This study shows us that mitigating Covid in schools is integral to protecting all of us from this incredibly dangerous virus.
Source: Tseng Y, Olson KL, Bloch D, Mandl KD. Smart Thermometer–Based Participatory Surveillance to Discern the Role of Children in Household Viral Transmission During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(6):e2316190. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.16190