Lift the mask mandate for schoolchildren

9 March 2022

The DA calls on government to make masks optional rather than compulsory for schoolchildren. On a risk-based approach, the current requirement is irrational. In South Africa’s current context, the negative impact of a mandatory mask policy exceeds the positive impact.

Yesterday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported only 801 new cases and 6 deaths in the past 24 hours, with a positivity rate of just 5.5%. Excess deaths in those under 65 have been mostly normal since September last year.

We believe that South Africa’s mask policy should follow international best practices and standards. The current mask mandate aims to reduce severe illness and pressure on hospitals due to Covid-19 by reducing transmission of the virus. Yet transmission is already low. Furthermore, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) published evidence of a study that showed “a massive decoupling between the number of people becoming infected with the virus relative to Covid-19 hospitalisation and death rates”. Therefore, the benefit to society from masking schoolchildren, in terms of any additional reduction in severe illness rates that the policy could achieve, is low to zero.

On the other hand, being overly cautious has a cost. Masks prevent schoolchildren from engaging normally and causes them fear, anxiety and general discomfort. Normal social interactions with friends and teachers are important for fostering children’s growth and well-being. Masks may also obstruct learning and language development.

Masking schoolchildren continuously, even during times of low severe illness rates, is driving non-compliance, which will be counter-productive during peaks. A continuous state of high alert is not sustainable.

Last week, WITS Professor of Vaccinology Shabir Mahdi tweeted: “There is no need for children to still be wearing masks in schools”.

Professor Heather Zar, Chair of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and Director SA-MRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health at UCT this week agreed “that masks could now be removed as a mandatory requirement in schools, given the stage of the epidemic that we’re in, which is a recovery phase, when underlying infection rates are lower, severe disease is much less common with Omicron and most people have some immunity due to prior infection and /or vaccination. The main rationale for masking children is to reduce overall transmission to school personnel, families and as a potential driver of infections during high intensity waves.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated guidelines recommend that masks only be required when and where Covid-19 hospital admission levels or staffed inpatient bed occupancy rates are high.

World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF guidelines are that children should wear a cloth mask when there is widespread transmission in the area.

Given international trends towards lifting of masks mandates, the DA urges government to review lifting mask mandates for learners.

Issued by Bax Nodada, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, 9 March 2022