As states, counties, and school districts across the country drop mask mandates, it’s becoming more acceptable to note the weakness of the evidence that cloth and surgical masks prevent Covid-19 spread or hospitalizations among healthy children. But in deep-blue areas, a different rationale for masking kids has emerged: they don’t mind wearing them, so why not?
This is a popular refrain among Covid-anxious adults reluctant to remove the last barrier to normal life for children. Boston, Detroit, Newark, Oakland, and Los Angeles are among the school districts that so far are maintaining mask mandates, some through the end of the year, despite their states having lifted them. Parents, research psychologists, and official bodies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have suggested that children not minding masks constitutes a good reason to keep them masked, and even continue mandates, for the foreseeable future. In an interview with Education Week, a pediatrician asserted that “younger children are capable of wearing masks and have adjusted very well,” while providing no corroborating evidence for the latter.
Read Full Article »