Mask advice to Victorian students ‘mandate by stealth’

States around the nation are grappling with mask rules amid soaring Covid-19 cases.

Year 3 student Elise wears a mask in her classroom at Birmingham Primary School in Mount Evelyn, Melbourne, on Tuesday. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

The Andrews government is facing a potential backlash over recommendations children aged 8 and above wear masks in class.

The state’s Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas and Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan insisted a letter sent to parents strongly urging their children to wear face masks as Covid-19 infections soared to 12,201 on Tuesday was not a mandate by stealth.

“The Victorian Department of Health strongly recommends that face masks are worn in indoor settings,” the letter read.

“As a result, we are asking all students aged 8 and over and all staff in all schools across Victoria to wear masks when in class … from now to the end of winter.”

Ms Thomas said the letter – signed by the education department’s deputy secretary David Howes, Independent Schools Victoria chief Michelle Green and Catholic Education Commission director Jim Miles – insisted the recommendation to wear a mask was advice only.

“Let’s be clear, we want to see kids wear masks in schools and we would like to see teachers wear them as well. But these are decisions that will be taken by families and indeed by schools,” she told ABC radio.

“No child will be disadvantaged as a consequence of not wearing a mask. But the advice is that masks are effective in the school setting.

“I will not be mandating mask wearing because the position is that we need to encourage Victorians with the information and advice they need to make the decisions best for themselves.”

At Birmingham Primary School, about 45km east of Melbourne’s CBD, year 3 student Elise wore a mask in class on Tuesday.

Principal Trish Enzinger said: “Many of our kids have been wearing masks since the beginning of term through parent choice.”

“The advice from the government allowed parents to make their own decisions in regards to their children wearing or not wearing a mask.”

Rules on masks are causing angst around the nation, with state governments in Queensland and NSW also stopping short of mandating the face coverings in schools and at other major events.

Independent Schools Queensland and Queensland Catholic Education Commission acknowledged state government health advice and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s plea for students and teachers to wear masks, but are allowing schools to make their own decisions.

Organisers of Ekka – an annual agricultural show in Queensland on August 6-14 – will encourage people to wear masks indoors.

The NSW education department also strongly encouraged students and staff to wear masks.

In Victoria on Tuesday Ms Allan said wearing masks inside was “not that hard to do”.

“It is entirely appropriate and reasonable (for the) organisations that run our school systems – government, non-government, catholic and private – to provide this information to families to reinforce the strong recommendation put forward by the health Minister last week,” she said.

“Wearing masks indoors is not that hard to do.”

But about four months out from the state election where the pandemic is set to be a major issue, state Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the letter was a mandate by stealth. “We are all sick of these smoke and mirrors games from the government. It’s not a mask mandate but it is,” he said.

Parents group Shadow Pandemic Vic spokeswoman Moran Dvir said the letter would create “friction and divisiveness” between parents and schools.

Infectious disease physician Paul Griffin said Omicron sub variants BA. 4 and BA. 5 were not easily transmissible among children.

“While the masks can be used in certain settings they certainly don’t need to be there all the time … focusing on ventilation where possible would be the really good step to reduce that risk in that classroom environment without interrupting the ability for kids to interact and communicate,” he said.