'we should be teaching kids to wear masks'

• younger children can learn how to properly wear a mask
• “bubble buddies” of three students or fewer could reduce a child’s rate exposure rate to one per cent
• covid-19 tests show high rate of false negatives, which calls into question how long kids who recover should stay home from school

come september, schools will reopen with students between grades four and 12 in alberta and ontario expected to wear masks. but what about those who are younger?

we should be teaching children to wear masks, says dr. anna banerji , a pediatric infectious, tropical disease specialist and global health specialist, and director of global and indigenous health in the faculty of medicine at the university of toronto.

while banerji says allowing children in grade three or younger to be exempt from mask-wearing seems reasonable, but it is possible for them to learn how to wear masks properly. the only exemptions currently are children under the age of two , according to canadian guidelines.

while secondary schools are limiting class sizes to 15 students , there is no indication of restricting class sizes in elementary schools.

without smaller class sizes in elementary schools and younger children forgetting to physically distance, younger children may be vectors for covid-19 . and while face masks can be irritating for younger children, it’s worth it to teach them how to wear a mask, and have them practise wearing it, in these remaining weeks of summer, says ryan imgrund , a southlake regional health centre biostatistician and science teacher.

in a recommendation letter imgrund wrote for sickkids hospital , he supports the use of masks in schools, saying the viral load on a mask will be low if every student and teacher is wearing one and washing their hands.

still, face masks are better than face shields, for containing droplets, says banerji, adding that even though face shields may be better for communication and can protect particles from entering the eyes, if kids are coughing, the shields won’t contain droplets as well as a face mask.

“some studies have shown that young children may not transmit as much [covid-19] because they don’t have the strength to cough up the particles,” she says. “for example, tuberculosis is not really something that children transmit . but covid-19 is an evolving science so we don’t really know.”

besides the proper use of protection, banerji is also concerned about recommendations that sick children should stay home until they get tested, with a negative result. ontario guidelines say once someone received a negative test, and have been symptom-free for 24 hours, they can return to school. 

“tests are falsely negative about 30 per cent of the time so i don’t know if we can rely on the test,” she says.  “do we want kids to be coming back to school even though they’re 24-hour symptom-free, but still might have covid?”

dduong@postmedia.com | @dianaduo

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