Forcing children to wear face masks to protect against COVID-19 failed to have any “real world effectiveness,” according to a recent open-access study published in the highly-renowned British Medical Journal (BMJ).
The study, to which six scientists and researchers contributed, saw a “systematic review” of the available literature on the effectiveness of mask mandates and whether they inhibited either the transmissibility or severity of the virus.
A total of 597 publications were screened by the researchers, with 557 quickly excluded. Another 18 were then excluded as they failed to meet the researcher’s criteria, which included whether results were confounded, questionably selected and whether there were any missing data or poorly measured outcomes. The most reliable and well-sourced 22 were left.
After examining the findings of the 22 studies, the authors found that “Real-world effectiveness of child mask mandates against SARS-CoV-2 transmission or infection has not been demonstrated with high-quality evidence.”
“The current body of scientific data does not support masking children for protection against COVID-19,” added the researchers, who similarly suggested that there was no association between voluntary mask-wearing among adults and “lower odds of COVID-19 in the school…”
“Perpetual masking in early childhood is without historical precedent,” they continued before enumerating the tangible risks of wearing masks, including “affected speech, language and emotional development, and physical discomfort contributing to reduced time and intensity of exercise and learning activities…”
