Study finds lifting face mask mandates led to thousands of new COVID cases among students and staff in Mass. public schools

[onthedarkside]

 

 

Massachusetts school districts that lifted mask mandates immediately after the state relaxed its requirement in February saw far more COVID-19 cases than districts that retained the policy voluntarily, according to a new study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

 

The new research from authors at Harvard University, Boston University and the Boston Public Health Commission provides evidence for supporters of mask mandates as they call for school districts to enact protections against future surges.

...

Researchers found that, over the course of 15 weeks, those 72 districts saw an additional 45 COVID-19 cases for every 1,000 students and staff — an estimated 11,901 cases overall, or nearly a third of all cases in all districts during that period."

 

(more)

 

 

 

 

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2211029

 

 

[Lacessit]

What a surprise. The data is already in that masks work, albeit more effectively in preventing people from spreading COVID by coughing and sneezing.

 

Children are the least affected in the age groups by COVID in terms of severity, so schools are the ideal petri dish and reservoir.

[onthedarkside]

More on the cited study in the New England Journal of Medicine from Johns Hopkins and their COVID-19 Situation report:

 

MASKING IN SCHOOLS

...

"Infection rates were lower among schools that required masking compared with those that did not, even in the area’s public schools that are often in older buildings with poor ventilation systems, more crowded, and attended by students more often from communities considered to be at-risk. The findings add to evidence underlining the importance of public health mitigation measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2—and possibly other respiratory viruses—in schools, including universal masking requirements. 

 

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/--COVID-19-Updates---November-10--2022.html

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

GFs daughter here in Bangkok is down with Covid for the 3rd time now. School restarted here on the 1st and on the 8th she woke up feverish with a very sore throat. ATK test positive, and today a fever of 39c, so off to the local hospital in Nonthaburi where they did a PCR test, again positive.  She was given meds and sent home. Not sure why she keeps getting sick with this. The first time she was hospitalized for 2 weeks.  Only had one vaccination and that was in July.

Edited November 11, 2022 by ThailandRyan

[onthedarkside]

Trolling uses of "laughing" emoticons against news posts here have been removed. And members who persist in emoticon trolling will face posting suspensions.

 

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

GFs daughter here in Bangkok is down with Covid for the 3rd time now. School restarted here on the 1st and on the 8th she woke up feverish with a very sore throat. ATK test positive, and today a fever of 39c, so off to the local hospital in Nonthaburi where they did a PCR test, again positive.  She was given meds and sent home. Not sure why she keeps getting sick with this. The first time she was hospitalized for 2 weeks.  Only had one vaccination and that was in July.

Was that Sinovac? The data is saying it's like a coin toss w.r.to protection against infection, better in terms of preventing serious illness.

IMO she is getting repeats due to variants, and maybe she is not building up enough antibodies for immunity.

Being hospitalized for two weeks, when she is in the least vulnerable age bracket of serious illness, means she is statistically an outlier.

[ThailandRyan]

8 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Was that Sinovac? The data is saying it's like a coin toss w.r.to protection against infection, better in terms of preventing serious illness.

IMO she is getting repeats due to variants, and maybe she is not building up enough antibodies for immunity.

Being hospitalized for two weeks, when she is in the least vulnerable age bracket of serious illness, means she is statistically an outlier.

Not sinovac she is only 8 years old.

[TorquayFan]

Thanks that's a useful report. I dislike wearing a mask just the same as most people, BUT they have to be worn to reduce transmission - that's been obvious all along, except to Boris Johnson maybe  ????

 

The vaccines were not researched for transmissibility before they were launched and although there were great 'hopes' on that front, later data tends to show that the vax had only a limited effect.

 

Masks are OK. A bl**dy nuisance to wear, but there it is. Take it on the chin FGS !

[onthedarkside]

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