Alison Curtis: I think children should wear masks in the classroom
Alison Curtis. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan
Earlier in the week I put on my Twitter account a poll to see if parents of children under the age of 12 would be keen for them to wear masks in the classroom. For the first hour I got some interesting comments and the split was 60% in favour of mask wearing.
I left the poll up for three hours and decided to take it down as the comments grew nastier and angry.
It was interesting to see how quickly it escalated into seemingly one of the most offensive things people had ever been asked.
Now we all know Twitter doesn’t reflect the real world but before things got too heated I was curious to see that, although it wasn’t a massive majority, the majority of parents who got involved in the poll were in favour of mask-wearing in juniors.
The World Health Organisation has advised against mask-wearing in the under 5s and has advised mask-wearing in ages 6-11 where there is widespread transmission of the disease, the child has the ability to safely use the mask, has access to clean masks and adult supervision to help with wearing a mask.
When we went back to school last year after lockdown I asked Joan to wear a mask. Before I asked her I checked in with a close friend who works high up in public health in Canada and on a Covid taskforce. I asked her if it would be worth a potential argument with Joan if it was only herself and a few others wearing a mask in the classroom or if it was a case all preventative measures would help in the long run.
Her first response was shock that kids didn’t wear masks in schools as the over fives do across Ontario. Then she did suggest that I ask Joan to wear one as it would help prevent the spread of Covid. As it turned out, only one other child wore one in the classroom.
The two supported one another and, thankfully, were not made fun of or singled out for wearing a mask. Joan wore hers on and off for two months without complaining. There were no fights in the mornings, all I did was remind her there was one in her bag if she wanted to wear it. I was really surprised and a bit relieved that it just became part of her daily life.
It is a huge issue of balance. Of trying not to contain children in any way, to take away freedoms, to potentially cause any long-term negative associations but to also keep schools open and children being able to attend normal, healthy environments that encourage growth.
Would I be more comfortable, especially with the daily numbers of late, if it were a nationwide policy for children to wear masks at school? The answer is yes. I look to Ontario and see their incredibly low rates of the disease despite a population over twice as big as ours. They are also at the same point with their vaccination programme so, like Ireland, the under-12s have not received their doses yet.
Would I expect everyone else to agree with me or feel the same way? Absolutely not. I can see the arguments against mask wearing in juniors. I can absolutely identify the complications around it as a blanket policy and how it would cause stresses for families with additional needs. Me wishing it were a policy is me simplifying the solution. All I can hope for is that classrooms remain open and safe. That children can continue to be in those naturally environments. That the government supports good hygiene and eventually state of the art ventilation systems. But in the meantime if Joan volunteers to wear a mask I won’t be standing in her way.
