Last week, Coppell became the latest North Texas school district to pass a mask mandate that allowed for parental opt-outs, granting exemptions based on medical, religious or philosophical objections.
It's a move that two larger Dallas-area districts - Plano and Garland - also adopted in recent weeks as school boards across the state grapple with how best to address the current surge in COVID-19 cases, while being mindful of Gov. Greg Abbott's court fights with districts that have defied his ban on mask mandates. Jeffrey Kahn, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Health and professor at UT Southwestern, said he finds the current debate on mask efficacy "Baffling."
"We've been using masks for over a century, and we know that they work," he said. There is a paucity of research - 18 months into the pandemic - on masks' effectiveness within schools.
"All of the studies that I have seen are not sufficiently rigorous to assess the actual effectiveness of masks" in schools, Tulane University epidemiologist Susan Hassig told Chalkbeat's Matt Barnum in a recent review of current research. The research does not compare similar schools in similar areas with different masking requirements, and therefore has difficulty accounting for various mitigation efforts in place at those schools.
Fisher tried to tie Coppell's temporary mandate to COVID-19 case counts in Dallas County, requiring masks when there are 10 cases per 100,000, the county's current threshold to be at its highest risk level.
source: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2021/09/07/how-effective-are-mask-mandates-when-schools-allow-parents-to-opt-out/
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