Photo Pixabay [retrieved 15-Nov-2021]
Here’s a study from the CDC comparing school districts that have mask mandates to those that don’t.1 It shows the rate of infection was higher in schools without mask mandates (with a bunch of caveats however).
There’s a lot to wade through in this study and people can have different take-aways depending on what they’re looking for.
The CDC study:
- does not show that mask usage was the cause of the lower infection rate.
- does not discuss the level of illness incurred. (Asymptomatic, home sick, hospitalized, etc.)
- includes children younger than school age and therefore not subject to the mandate.
- does not account for the effect of requiring adults to wear masks where the children were not mandated to do so. (Other reports on this study conclude that once this is controlled for, the difference in infection rate between the mandate schools and non-mandate schools is not statistically significant.)
- does not address any of the offsetting negative effects of mask mandates.
Here’s one reporter’s take on what the study tells us –
The Evidence Supporting Mask Mandates in Schools Is Weaker Than Biden Pretends
1 Pediatric COVID-19 Cases in Counties With and Without School Mask Requirements