CDC & ASU Prove Masks Work in Arizona Schools—Also Trees are Made of Wood

 


Earlier this month the CDC released a study on the effectiveness of mask requirements in schools in preventing the spread of COVID-19. It was conducted by researchers from ASU, the CSC, Maricopa and Pima counties, and the Arizona Department of Education. (Where is AzDHS?)

The researchers compared schools with "early mask requirements"—i.e., in place before school started—to those with "late mask requirements" (instituted after school started) to those with no mask requirements.  Usable data were collected from 999 of 1,041 (96.0%) of K–12 public non-charter schools in Maricopa and Pima counties.

The results show that—guess what—masks work. Here is a chart derived from numbers presented in a main results table in the study:


In other words, schools without mask mandates were three times more likely to have an our break as schools with mask mandates. Actually the figure is a little higher. Quoting the CDC report: "After adjusting for potential described confounders, the odds of a school-associated COVID-19 outbreak in schools without a mask requirement were 3.5 times higher than those in schools with an early mask requirement."

So there is is. Masks in schools are a good idea. This seems like the public health equivalent of concluding that "trees are made of wood." 

Maybe this study will help convince some parents to stop threatening teachers and school boards over mask policies. But I doubt it will make much of an impression on hardcore mask-holes. They aren't interested in evidence and insist that their kids have the freedom to contract disease and spread it to others.

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay 

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