David Leonhardt has a big piece out today in the NYT on how masks in schools just don’t work:
It's clear that masks can slow the spread of Covid. So why do they seem to do so little to slow the spread of the virus in schools? 🧵 https://t.co/adJWrT5ats
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
Welcome to the party, pal?
Among the evidence: Studies — in Florida and in England, for example — tend to find little effect on caseloads. One study that did find an effect has been largely debunked, as @davidzweig has explained. https://t.co/es9bjxRLEN
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
Leonhardt quoted former Biden Covid adviser Michael Osterholm callings masks in school “almost worthless” and “it doesn’t work”:
This is why some experts believe mandated school masking is almost worthless. “It doesn’t work,” Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, told me.
How could this be, given the other evidence about masks reducing Covid's spread?
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
Amazing. Saying this *used* to get people censored:
The New York Times admits @GovRonDeSantis was right, almost a year after he held a roundtable with doctors stating the same thing about child masking — and it was censored from YouTube for “misinformation” pic.twitter.com/Y9472FR1Gg
— Christina Pushaw 🐊🚛 (@ChristinaPushaw) February 8, 2022
This is what we’ve been saying for months now! It’s just common sense:
Among the reasons:
* Medical masks are designed for adults, not children.
* Even masks designed for children slip off their faces.
* Kids are kids. They don't leave a piece of fabric on their faces all day.
* They have to take off their masks to eat.— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
And do NOT let them tell you the science has changed because the science has not changed:
THE SCIENCE HAS NOT CHANGED.
Only the politics has. pic.twitter.com/e4wzf8AvCe
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) February 8, 2022
They *should* do this but won’t:
Public health experts would be far better off saying "You know what…we were trying to be careful, but we got the science wrong. We overshot. We will try to do better."
That's a honest statement the public would accept.
Saying "We got it right all along!" is absurd.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) February 8, 2022
The question is “what took them so long” to come to this conclusion because it’s been obvious for months:
Back in August, I made my case against masks in schools. I wanted to get it out before kids started their school year.
Right now, many mainstream outlets are making the same case, often with the same studies and data I used.
What took them so long?https://t.co/LHkvjOCobn
— PoliMath (@politicalmath) February 8, 2022
More from Leonhardt:
Combine 1) Kids don't actually well good masks even when a school had a mask mandate + 2) Omicron is intensely contagiousness — and you start to see why universal school masking seems to have only a modest effect.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
But wait, you say! If mask mandates have even a modest effect (and they probably do), shouldn't we require kids to wear masks all day?
Well, yes, if masking didn't have any costs, that would be the easy conclusion. Of course, masking does have costs:
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
Talking with a mask on, as Kathleen Pike, a psychology professor at Columbia University has written, “is like talking on your phone in a zone with weak cell service.” https://t.co/VeF0lwZlyG
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
I understand that mask wearing may be easy for some people. But it is not so easy for many other people, including young children, people with learning disabilities and people who are hard of hearing.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
This article by NPR's @anya1anya reviews the debate and catalogs some of the costs of masking in school: https://t.co/PKAMNntOgQ
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
Among the costs of school masking:
* Students can’t always understand teachers.
* Young children, unable to see faces, may not be developing emotional skills.
* Children with disabilities particularly struggle.
* Kids of all ages are having a harder time making connections.— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
"They can never see their friends smile," Stephanie Avanessian, a mother in L.A., told NPR. "They can never see their friends frown! They're not developing empathy. It's taken 6 months for my 5th grader to make friends because it's so hard to tell what people are doing."
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
It’s also relevant that teachers and students who want to continue wearing masks can do so. One-way masking, with medical masks, provides protection, experts note.https://t.co/OUoDncpRtp
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
The bottom line: Covid rarely offers easy calls. Most policies have both costs and benefits. The question is: Which is bigger?
Remember: We're should not be solving for Covid cases here. We should be solving for people's lives, health and well being.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
The evidence suggests that the benefits of mandated school masking are modest and that the costs are meaningful for some children, particularly after two years of pandemic life.
With cases plummeting, the removal of statewide mask mandates will probably do more good than harm.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
But there is an important caveat: If another big Covid wave comes — and it may — the argument for a temporary return of masking will become stronger. When hospitals are overwhelmed, even small differences in caseloads can save lives. Different moments call for different policies.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) February 8, 2022
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