They propose that it be done progressively and by age groups starting at the end of this month; other experts see it hasty
The Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) has proposed a schedule for the progressive removal of masks inside classrooms, once it is no longer mandatory at recess. In a document from the AEP Schooling Reopening Working Group, pediatricians propose that as of the end of this month, the obligation to wear face masks indoors will be progressively withdrawn, with a reinforcement of ventilation protocols.
In the document sent to the health and educational authorities, the doctors propose a chronological order and by age groups to adopt the measure: First and second grade, starting on February 28; third and fourth grade, starting March 14; fifth and sixth grade, starting March 28; Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO), from April 25 and Baccalaureate, from May 9.
Spanish schoolchildren, some 8 million students, have been wearing masks in classrooms for almost 17 months, specifically since face-to-face classes resumed in September 2020 after the harsh confinement of the spring of that year. During this time, the students have worn a mask both in the classrooms and on the patios (this last measure was lifted on the 8th), in addition to receiving class with the windows open or forming bubble groups.
Regarding the use of masks in closed environments, where it has been shown that the risk of transmission is between 15 and 20 times higher than in open spaces, pediatricians point out the characteristics that make the school environment an ideal monitoring model for the progressive de-escalation of masks indoors: in the last two years, the lower infectiousness of children and their lower risk of getting sick have been confirmed. “Thanks to the continuous monitoring of the risk of transmission in the classrooms of our country, we have been able to generate data that supports the low risk of eliminating masks in children”, emphasizes the pediatrician and epidemiologist Quique Bassat, coordinator of the Working Group of Reopening of the Schooling of the AEP.
“It’s premature”
However, there are experts who believe that adopting this measure could be hasty. “It is premature to make that decision for two reasons: one because vaccination coverage in children aged 5-11 is still only 56% with communities such as the Balearic Islands with only 34%, Madrid with only 46% or Catalonia with only 40 %, and secondly because the incidence in children between 0 and 11 years of age is still 1,800 cases per hundred inhabitants in 14 days”, recalls José Martínez Olmos, an expert doctor in Public Health, who adds that in this context “removing marks expands the chances of contagion and I don’t see the benefit versus the risk.” “Only a situation of low incidence (less than 100 cases) and high vaccination coverage that we will not have before three or four weeks could suggest such a measure,” says the expert. Martínez Olmos doubts that the Public Health Commission or the Interterritorial Health Council will adopt these measures “now”.
Precisely, the AEP points out in the document the importance of continuing to promote vaccination against covid, especially among those under 12 years of age, and is in favor of restricting the mandatory quarantine to 7 days only to those children confirmed positive, eliminating the rest of the current recommendations.