Are ‘soggy’ masks making classrooms safer, ask heads

School leaders question whether students wearing unwashed masks are protecting schools from Covid

11th March 2021, 4:02pm

Schools Reopening: Do Wet, Unwashed Masks Protect Schools Against Covid, Ask Headteachers

Headteachers have called on chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty to answer the question of whether masks in schools are helpful in controlling the virus.

Masks are “definitely not all being washed” at the end of the school say, and students are wearing the same “wet, soggy” mask all day long and “repeatedly touching it”, said Richard Sheriff, president of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

Speaking at a press briefing ahead of the ASCL annual conference, which starts tomorrow, he said that, overall, staff and students had been “really good” about mask-wearing.

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But he said: “During some lessons, some children will drop that mask over their nose on to their chin because they really start to not be able to breathe and so forth, so I’m not saying it’s perfect. It definitely isn’t.

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“There are those of us who might question whether mask-wearing does make them safer, given wearing a wet, soggy mask all day long and touching it repeatedly and shoving it in your pocket at the end of the day - because they’re definitely not all being washed - is a really good thing in terms of infection control.

“Well, I think I would ask [chief medical officer for England] Professor Whitty that question because that’s not one I can answer. I have my own geography teaching view on that, but that’s not what counts at the moment.”

Mr Sheriff, CEO of a trust in North Yorkshire, said masks were “definitely not an asset to teaching”.

He added: “It is so difficult to gauge the mood of a class when you go in and you can’t see their faces, you know, to know whether they’re enjoying the time in there or whether they’re terrified or whether they’re worried…it’s very difficult when you can’t see them, and you just see their eyes. It’s a barrier to what we want to do as teachers in many ways, [but] if it helps people feel more confident and comfortable in school and those are the rules, we’ll carry on doing it.”