Jul 27, 20222 min read

YATES: Science Shows Masked Children Are Not the Answer

- Opinion -

People are questioning the fairness of continuing to require masks for children indefinitely, especially when they are less often required in many of the places adults gather, such as meeting rooms, Church services, restaurants, and bars.

Across the country, about two-thirds of large school districts currently require students to wear masks. Most often those masks are cloth--even though experts say cloth masks are insufficient to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Numerous scientific studies have established the fact that it can be harder to hear and understand speech and identify facial expressions and emotions when people are wearing masks.

Data collected by the Covid-19 School Response Dashboard (run by education groups including the School Superintendents Association) found that schools and school districts without mask mandates had lower case rates than schools with mandates.

Covid has a lower annual mortality risk to children than motor vehicle accidents, influenza, and perhaps, most importantly for the 5 to 14 age group, suicide.

Students, wearing a face mask for up to seven hours per day (10 for students in extracurriculars) along with social distancing in school and constant reminders of danger present some hygiene and significant mental health risks.

Draconian mask culture also heightens anxiety for many children and has led some to experience germ and virus phobia. This setting leads to increased cortisol and adrenaline (aka “stress hormones”), exacerbating and reinforcing the anxiety. Mandated masking in schools, particularly when done in draconian, punitive manners, puts children into a heightened state of alert and readiness in a setting where they also should feel calm and secure.

The human body is designed to expel wastes through exhaling. Holding those wastes against the face creates a whole new set of problems as children inhale the bacteria and viruses their body is trying to get rid of, and those wastes sit in a moist environment on the skin.

Many families also dealt with “maskne” (mask acne). This has become a bigger problem when the maskne becomes a staph infection, which are much harder to get rid of.

The science is clear: masks on the faces of children do more harm to their development than they provide effective safeguards against spreading disease.

Children undoubtedly have developed anxiety about COVID, germs, and physical closeness with others due to mask mandates. Avoidance is not a treatment strategy for anxiety. In fact, avoidance makes anxiety worse. At some point, those with COVID anxiety will need to practice exposure, with support from adults, as this is the most evidence-based intervention for anxiety.

There is strong support among parents and teachers across the country for children to return to school without masks for the sake of their immediate and long-term mental health.