Live data from Hacker News

Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

adc.bmj.com

21–30 of 40 posts

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#21

I've thought the mandates were stupid right from the start. Don't get me wrong, I am not an anti-masker, and I work in healthcare so I've worn a mask every day for the last 3 years. But forcing people who do not want to wear masks to wear them is just a waste of masks. They aren't wearing them properly or effectively. Hell, a large portion of people who support masks aren't wearing them properly. This is why you see…

I agree that required masking wasn't very beneficial to those who didn't want to wear a mask, but it seems very likely to me that it still would have helped reduce spread from those people. Even a poor fitting, poor material mask does a good job of capturing or slowing moisture and other infection carrying materials from leaving the mouth of an infected person.

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#22

Masks were always terrible idea for kids. It only stayed around so long because it became a shibboleth for tribal identity.

This. I hope none of you had to endure air travel in the height of the absurd Biden administration's unscientific mask mandates. The poor Delta flight attendants had to go row to row making sure toddlers were wearing a piece of fabric over their face, which the kid would take off every 15 seconds. It was traumatic for me, the staff, my kid, and those around us. And it was all for nothing. I will never forget what the…

Biden admin? Traveling during the Trump admin was the same. I also found it annoying, having traveled with a toddler and a young kid. But traumatic? Come on.

Notably, I caught COVID for the first and only time when I had a flight just a few weeks after they dropped the mask mandate for flights.

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#24
post #17

Here’s my suspicion, based on observation but no statistical evidence: 1. Most masks for children fit extremely poorly. I doubt they do much filtration of incoming air. Maybe they’re useful for source control, especially for pathogens that spread through large droplets (i.e. maybe not Covid). 2. They do have one major obvious effect: when worn even remotely correctly, they keep kid fingers and hands away from kid mou…

Assuming you are right, how is it beneficial to the child?

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#25
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I hope none of you had to endure air travel in the height of the absurd Biden administration's unscientific mask mandates. The poor Delta flight attendants had to go row to row making sure toddlers were wearing a piece of fabric over their face, which the kid would take off every 15 seconds. It was traumatic for me, the staff, my kid, and those around us. And it was all for nothing. I will never forget what the…

Biden admin? Traveling during the Trump admin was the same. I also found it annoying, having traveled with a toddler and a young kid. But traumatic? Come on. Notably, I caught COVID for the first and only time when I had a flight just a few weeks after they dropped the mask mandate for flights.

Yes, the Biden admin created the airline mask mandate via executive order. It was shut down by a court, at which point the Biden admin promptly tried to fight for its reinstatement and thankfully lost. [1]

[1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61145045

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#26

Did anyone expect a different result here? I think what people are more interested in is whether people who are dutiful with covid pre-cautions actually work(kids are a tough cohort). I think we know the answer there too. For example, a systematic review of professionals in a workplace with mask policies versus those without. Or systematic reviews on other helpful topics like ventilation, filtration, and testing from…

Is that really the consensus where you are?

In my experience, it’s at best and mild aversion, but usually tempered with a pragmatic indifference to being infected. Virtually no one here (UK) takes visible actions anymore. Only a few seem to care.

Get closer to healthcare settings, and things change a little, but not a lot. A few more people take preventative measures, but not many, and interestingly not healthcare staff themselves.

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#27

Did anyone expect a different result here? I think what people are more interested in is whether people who are dutiful with covid pre-cautions actually work(kids are a tough cohort). I think we know the answer there too. For example, a systematic review of professionals in a workplace with mask policies versus those without. Or systematic reviews on other helpful topics like ventilation, filtration, and testing from…

Is that really the consensus where you are? In my experience, it’s at best and mild aversion, but usually tempered with a pragmatic indifference to being infected. Virtually no one here (UK) takes visible actions anymore. Only a few seem to care. Get closer to healthcare settings, and things change a little, but not a lot. A few more people take preventative measures, but not many, and interestingly not healthcare st…

The UK has a covid inquiry going on right now and I believe the former PM expressed their regret for how much they downplayed it alongside explaining their rationale of using the limited tools they had at their disposal. Very uncharacteristic for what their actions were during it.

You also have countries like Germany who are starting to realize the actual burden of infecting the general population and necessity to follow what current evidence we have to tackle the long-tail issues:

https://twitter.com/zurnull/status/1731941221503812060

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#28

Masks were always terrible idea for kids. It only stayed around so long because it became a shibboleth for tribal identity.

This. I hope none of you had to endure air travel in the height of the absurd Biden administration's unscientific mask mandates. The poor Delta flight attendants had to go row to row making sure toddlers were wearing a piece of fabric over their face, which the kid would take off every 15 seconds. It was traumatic for me, the staff, my kid, and those around us. And it was all for nothing. I will never forget what the…

Yep, it was absurdly funny in hindsight though, like my out of state buddies who were putting their kid through zoom kindergarten instead of home schooling.

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I hope none of you had to endure air travel in the height of the absurd Biden administration's unscientific mask mandates. The poor Delta flight attendants had to go row to row making sure toddlers were wearing a piece of fabric over their face, which the kid would take off every 15 seconds. It was traumatic for me, the staff, my kid, and those around us. And it was all for nothing. I will never forget what the…

Yep, it was absurdly funny in hindsight though, like my out of state buddies who were putting their kid through zoom kindergarten instead of home schooling.

I'm sorry, but I can't see anything funny about closing the schools across the country because of a virus that didn't directly threaten their lives in retrospect. With the literacy rate and school absentee rate, we're going to see a generation of some of the least capable adults in modern history.

Re: Child mask mandates for Covid-19: a systematic review

#30
post #17

Here’s my suspicion, based on observation but no statistical evidence: 1. Most masks for children fit extremely poorly. I doubt they do much filtration of incoming air. Maybe they’re useful for source control, especially for pathogens that spread through large droplets (i.e. maybe not Covid). 2. They do have one major obvious effect: when worn even remotely correctly, they keep kid fingers and hands away from kid mou…

Assuming you are right, how is it beneficial to the child?

Getting sick less often? Maybe avoiding norovirus or some cold viruses? Maybe avoiding the flu (on quick search, influenza’s transmission mechanism is not entirely clear, but the flu can be very nasty in small children)?

One might reasonably debate whether it’s beneficial to a small child, and how much, to get sick less often. And one might reasonably debate the tradeoff between that benefit and the down sides of wearing a mask (e.g. more difficult communication). And one might extremely reasonably debate whether any of this would or could justify requiring other people’s children to wear masks.

Post reply on HN