Experts call for mandatory face masks for kindie children to year 12 students

A plan by a group of experts to make masks mandatory for all students, including those under 12, has sparked outrage.

Scientific lobby group OzSage is calling for masks to made mandatory in all schools from kindergartens to year 12 – prompting outrage from social media users, who deemed the suggestion “child abuse”.

Under the proposed rules, masks would be recommended for children aged two to five where appropriate, and mandatory for all students.

The group cites evidence from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, who released three separate studies in late September that showed schools without universal mask-wearing are three and a half times more likely to have a Covid-19 outbreak than those with masks.

“International experience shows that schoolchildren are able to wear masks,” OzSage argued in hits report, Protecting children from Covid-19 and making schools and childcare safer.

“For instance, all children over two years of age in San Francisco and New York City are required to wear masks at school. We recommend that masks should be mandated for primary and high school students and staff.”

Under the current measures in Victoria, masks are mandatory indoors and outdoors for high school students aged 12 and over, and recommended for those younger than 12.

Scientific lobby group OzSage is calling for masks to made mandatory in all schools from kindergartens to year 12.

But, speaking to 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, occupational hygienist and OzSage member Kate Cole said getting younger children to wear masks was achievable.

“I think we’ve got to give kids a bit of credit here,” she said.

“I get it, it’s a big change and change will always bring with it some level of hesitancy but … we want our kids to be safe, we want our schools to be open.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be possible for every single two-year-old, absolutely not, but we should try.”

While the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not recommend mandatory masks for children under five, Ms Cole said it wasn’t a reason to reject OzSage’s recommendations.

“Unfortunately the WHO has not always been right during this pandemic and so we look to the latest science to help inform our decision-making,” she said.

Loretta Piazza, the principal of Meadowglen Primary in Epping in Melbourne’s north – a disadvantaged school where a high proportion of students have been supervised on-site during periods of remote learning – warned a mask mandate would be difficult to enforce.

“It didn’t take [students] long to realise that they were very uncomfortable wearing them,” Ms Piazza told The Age.

“They felt very hampered, even in wanting to communicate with their teacher and having a mask over their mouth. I think they felt at a disadvantage.”

Reaction to the suggestion on social media was, as is often the case in these situations, unfavourable.

Many declared making masks mandatory for under 12s would be akin to “child abuse”, others simply writing “get stuffed” under 3AW’s story and some parents lamenting it was hard enough to get their kids to “eat dinner”, let alone wear a mask.

“I can’t get my five-year-old to wear a jumper. What are my chances of a mask,” one woman wrote on Facebook.

“I have trouble getting both my kids to eat dinner, have a bath, sit still, get dressed, listen, put clothes on, go to bed,” one dad said.

“The list goes on. And you expect them to wear a mask. Go F yourself.”

The recommendation comes as the Federal Government works to get a vaccine approved for children between the ages of five and 11, with Health Minister Greg Hunt inviting Pfizer to seek Australian approval for use of its vaccine in under 12s as soon as possible.

“I am heartened by your advice that trials of the Pfizer vaccine are showing promise in children under the age of 12 years of age,” Mr Hunt wrote in a letter to Anne Harris, managing director of Pfizer Australia and New Zealand, in September.

“I note the announcement that Pfizer International is now intending to apply for regulatory approval of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 12. I encourage and invite Pfizer to submit a parallel application to the TGA for Australian regulatory approval at the earliest possible time.”

If the jab is found safe and effective for under 12s, Mr Hunt said the government had adequate supplies of the vaccine on order and would begin rolling them out “as a priority”.

“It’s important to understand Australia is ready and prepared for childhood vaccination … and of course, for any boosters that might be required of us into the future,” Australia’s chief nursing and midwifery officer, Alison McMillan, said.

“Based on when the application is received, the data is submitted and they can make an assessment – it is possible that we will see that this year.”