Posted on 04/28/2023 9:53:24 AM PDT by lightman
The imposition of mask mandates among school children during the pandemic did not affect the incidence of COVID-19 infection, according to research conducted in Finland.
The study, published in the journal BMC Public Health on April 21, was conducted in three Finnish cities—Helsinki, Turku, and Tampere. These cities had similar baseline incidences of COVID-19 between August and September 2021. At the time, the federal government had recommended using masks in schools for children aged 12 years and above. In Helsinki and Tampere, the national recommendation was imposed as mandates at schools while in Turku, the mandate was levied on kids aged 10 and above.
The research team looked at the effects of masks on two groups of children—those between seven and nine years and those between 10 and 12. While the seven to 10-year-olds were not subject to mask mandates, 10-12 years olds had to wear masks.
“According to our analysis, no additional effect was gained from mandating masks, based on comparisons between the cities and between the age groups of the unvaccinated children (10–12 years versus 7–9 years),” the study said.
“Face mask recommendations in schools did not reduce COVID-19 incidence among 10–12-year-olds in Finland. This may indicate that COVID-19 cases in schools merely reflect community infections than school outbreaks.”
Ineffective Masks
The Finnish study cited Spanish research on mask mandates in schools which found that masking was not associated with lower COVID-19 incidence or transmission. The transmission risk in schools was found to be lower than in households.
It also cited a late 2022 study from the United States which found that lifting mask requirements was associated with an increase in COVID-19 cases among students and staff.
“However, this study aggregated data from all age groups, making it difficult to determine how the effects of mask recommendations might vary by age,” the Finnish study stated.
Multiple other studies have also suggested that masks may be ineffective when it comes to controlling COVID-19.
On April 13, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that it could not find evidence as to whether N95 or similar medical-grade masks protect clinically vulnerable people from getting seriously ill from the disease.
A review by the UKHSA of thousands of primary studies about the effectiveness of face coverings could not find anything on whether wearing N75 or similar respirators could protect people or not. This is quite significant given that N95 respirators are considered to be very efficient in filtering airborne particles.
Mask Harms
In addition to being ineffective, wearing masks also turns out to be harmful. A systematic review of 2,168 studies that looked at the adverse effects of wearing masks during COVID-19 found that many people suffered from health consequences like headaches and itching as a result.
Headache was found to be the “most frequent symptom” among those who wore masks, with a prevalence of 62 percent for general mask use. Shortness of breath was observed in 33 percent of users.
While 17 percent of surgical mask wearers experienced itching, this number was at 51 percent among users of N95. Acne prevalence among mask users was at 38 percent and skin irritation was at 36 percent. Dizziness was found to be prevalent among 5 percent of subjects.
Masks also interfered with the process of oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide release, thereby compromising “respiratory compensation.” The restriction of oxygen uptake and hindrance in carbon dioxide release was identified as more significant among users of N95 masks.
An online survey conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago found that individuals who had asthma faced difficulties when wearing masks.
While 84 percent experienced discomfort, 75 percent reported experiencing trouble breathing or shortness of breath at least for a little time while they wore the mask.
Unexpected. s/
Was at Midway Airport Last week - Karen’s had their entire families still wearing Masks - children under 5 wearing a Mask while their Crazy Mother had the fear look trying to keep them away from everyone.
As the Rat COVID bastards already knew.
Masks had no effect? Bull hockey. They made things worse.
“But it put those little brats in their place” - Randi Weingarten
Not truly “no effect” if the unintended consequences included moist virus and bacteria inhaled inside the masks all day by the children, who then often became sick-—no, not with Covid.
They also lacked proper social interaction cues from facial expressions for all those months each year at school, setting them back emotionally in their development.
Mentally it sure as heck did.
Masks have multiple negative consequences without providing protection from COVID. The same is true of the experimental gene therapy they call a vaccine. Corporate and government medicine has zero credibility.
Something most of us already knew.
Good masks properly worn give some protection but it is only short term (best studies showed about 15-30 minutes in close contact with an infected person). No basic mask (N95) is going to protect you if you are sitting around for an hour or so, exposed to COVID.
Most kids had worthless paper masks, they did not wear them correctly and they were in close contact with each other for extended periods. It is not surprising that the masks were useless. Unfortunately at least some of these kids who got COVID in schools will have some permanent heart and lung damage from the toxic spike protein in the virus. The same spike protein is in the vaccine although it appears to be slightly less toxic, for whatever that is worth.
The spike protein in the vaccine is incredibly harmful.
It is more pervasive as it injected in the form of 40 TRILLION lipid nano-particles that can go anywhere in the body and turn any cell into a toxic spike protein factory.
Before the polemics of covid 19 there were already studies that mask policies for public did not have a noticeable effect against respiratory viruses. The only studies that said otherwise were after it was a controversy.
Pretty sure the masks had an effect on the children though.
The virus spreads through the body too and that is one of the reasons for the horrible blood clots that kill some COVID victims. With this disease you are damned if you, damned if you don’t. The best thing is don’t catch it in the first place.
From airborne bacteria, maybe. But virus sizes are many times smaller than the miniscule openings in the masks.
It is about viral load. Masks do not stop all the virus for the exact reason you stated but a good quality, properly worn mask can decrease the amount of virus you breathe in (at least temporarily). Testing has shown that effective time to be 15-30 minutes in fairly close contact (about 3 feet) up to an hour if the infected person is also wearing a mask. Everyone probably has breathed in some COVID virus at one point or another but if you do not breath in a sufficient amount, you will not get infected. That is why social distancing actually works. If you are far enough from an infected person, the viral load you would breath in is not sufficient to make most people sick.
At risk people should consider wearing a mask if they will be in close contact with others. You don’t need to wear a mask in most public places since air circulation is usually going to disperse COVID enough that you will not get enough to be infected (unless you have really bad luck). COVID is highly contagious but not nearly as bad as some stomach viruses which can make you I’ll with just a tiny exposure just from touching something and not cleaning you hands properly.
Masks are nonsense. Just stop.
Nobody’s making you wear a mask and nobody’s asking you what you think if they want to wear one. It’s a free country. Personally I am not a know it all busybody and I could care less if people wear them or not. Studies do show that they can provide some limited protection and I am fine with it being none of my damned business if people feel they are of benefit. Anti mask zealots are just as inane as mandatory mask zealots.
I see them as an act of submission to the state.
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