CDC studies find masks in schools help prevent Covid-19 spread

Two studies released last week by the CDC found outbreaks were far more likely in schools that didn’t require students or staff to wear masks. The agency currently recommends universal indoor masking for everyone on a school campus.

 

One study in two large Arizona counties showed schools with no masking requirement were about 3.5 times more likely to have a Covid-19 outbreak than schools that had a universal masking requirement.

 

A second study showed counties across the US where schools required masks also had less transmission of the virus among children in the community in general.

 

The study found that case rates among children increased more in counties where schools did not have mask requirements than they did in counties where schools mandated universal masking.

 

Counties without school mask requirements added an average of about 35 new pediatric cases per 100,000 children each day over that two-week span, compared to a growth of about 16 new pediatric cases per 100,000 children each day in counties with school mask requirements.