![]() Despite wearing a mask, the study finds a large buildup of aerosol droplets suspended in the air. Researchers from the University of Waterloo simulated a person breathing in a large room with a cloth face mask on. ![]() That’s the recommendation from a new study reporting most cloth masks just don’t do the job when it comes to stopping the spread of coronavirus within enclosed spaces. WATERLOO, Ontario - N95 or KN95 face masks may be the best way to avoid COVID-19 during crowded indoor events. “Especially in times with higher community infection rates and more transmissible variants, masking is a critical safety effort to support continued, in-person education.New research reveals that cloth masks filter just 10% of exhaled aerosols, with many people not wearing coverings that fit their face properly. “The findings in this study are important,” Zimmerman said. Many of the largest school districts in the country, including New York City and Los Angeles, have moved to make masks optional. School mask policies have become a political question, with school board debates and parent protests around the country since this school year began.īut coronavirus numbers are dropping around the United States since the omicron surge spiked in January. “Providing districts with the ability to monitor transmission data in real time and in response to changing policies allows them to shape their mitigation efforts during an evolving pandemic.” Kanecia Zimmerman, co-chair of the ABC Science Collaborative. “Maintaining in-person instruction is critical for children,” said Duke’s Dr. The researchers worked with school districts to help monitor COVID-19 transmissions and evaluate their policies. The study included 29 districts from North Carolina, 23 from Wisconsin, three from Missouri, and one each from California, Washington, Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas and Texas. “For every 100 community-acquired cases, universally masked districts had 7.3 predicted secondary infections, while optionally masked districts had 26.4,” the study states. The secondary transmission rates in schools with optional masks was 3.6 times higher than in schools that required everyone to wear face masks, the study found. Of the 61 school districts in the study, 46 had universal mask rules, nine had partial mask rules and six did not require masks. That means more than 90% of the COVID cases in the study came from community transmission outside schools. “The districts reported 40,601 primary and 3,085 secondary infections,” the study states. The districts that participated in the research study included 1,112,899 students and 157,069 staff in K-12 schools, according to researchers. “After taking into account the size of the school districts and how many weeks the districts contributed data, masked schools saw up to 87% less transmission,” the researchers said in a statement Wednesday. Parents in Gaston County, North Carolina, protested mask policies outside a school board meeting in July 2021. Requiring masks inside school buildings reduced coronavirus transmission by 72% when compared with school districts that did not have mask mandates, the research found. “As more students have returned to school, masking and vaccination of children 5 years and older have remained the most practical and effective mitigation strategies to keeping students healthy and learning in-person,” he said. ![]() The findings line up with the results of earlier studies, Benjamin said. The new peer-reviewed research was published Wednesday in the journal "Pediatrics." The study included data from school districts in nine states from late-July until mid-December, through the delta wave and the first weeks of the omicron surge. The peer-reviewed research was published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics.The study included more than 1.1 million students and more than 150,000 school staff members.Researchers from Duke's ABC Science Collaborative studied COVID-19 cases in 61 school districts during the delta wave and the beginning of the omicron surge.A new study found requiring masks in schools reduced coronavirus transmission by as much as 87%.
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