![]() ![]() To understand the preventive impact masks can have, we looked outside North Carolina for comparisons. Schools provided this protection without expensive screening tests for the coronavirus or massive overhauls in ventilation systems.īecause North Carolina had a mask mandate for all K-12 schools, we could not compare masked schools to unmasked schools. We believe this low rate of transmission occurred because of the mask-on-mask school environment: Both the infected person and the close contact wore masks. Through contact tracing and testing, however, we found only 363 additional children and adults acquired the coronavirus. Because of close contact with those cases, more than 40,000 people required quarantine. Certain school districts in North Carolina were required, by bipartisan legislation, to submit infection data to the ABC Science Collaborative as a trusted third party.ĭuring that time, more than 7,000 children and adults acquired the coronavirus and attended school while infectious. In conjunction with North Carolina, the ABC Science Collaborative collected data from more than one million students and staff members in the state’s schools from March to June 2021. How do we know that masking helps prevent spread among unvaccinated people in schools? In July 2020, we and our colleagues developed the ABC Science Collaborative to pair scientists with school and community leaders to make sure that school leaders had the most up-to-date, scientific information pertaining to Covid-19 and K-12 schools. Masking, then, is one of the best, most readily available methods to protect them from the disease, with universal masking being one of the most effective and efficient strategies for preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools. Vaccination is the strongest method for preventing the ill effects of Covid, but students under 12 years of age are ineligible for the vaccines. ![]() We have learned a few things for certain: Although vaccination is the best way to prevent Covid-19, universal masking is a close second, and with masking in place, in-school learning is safe and more effective than remote instruction, regardless of community rates of infection. If we close schools, millions of children will suffer learning loss, and many of them may suffer lifelong effects on their physical and mental health.įor more than a year, we’ve worked with North Carolina school districts and charter schools, studying the rate of new Covid cases, the efficacy of mitigation measures such as masking and the increased risks of participating in school-sponsored sports. ![]() If we send children to school without masks, we increase their risk of acquiring Covid-19. Big questions loom over the upcoming back-to-school season: Should children be required to wear masks? Should children go to in-person classes at all? ![]()
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