FACE COVERINGS
EXEMPTIONS
SCHOOLS
Face coverings became mandatory in UK shops and supermarkets from 24 July 2020. They were commonly worn for indoor public settings and sometimes outdoors too.
Following this guidance, the wearing of masks was adopted to varying degrees by the British public and some people will also wear a mask outdoors or alone in cars.
More than 150 Comparative Studies and Articles on Mask Ineffectiveness and Harms
Brownstone Institute, Paul Elias Alexander
It is not unreasonable to conclude that surgical and cloth masks, used as they currently are being used (without other forms of PPE protection), have no impact on controlling the transmission of Covid-19 virus. Current evidence implies that face masks can be actually harmful. The body of evidence indicates that face masks are largely ineffective.
My focus is on COVID face masks and the prevailing science that we have had for nearly 20 months. Yet I wish to address this mask topic at a 50,000-foot level on the lockdown restrictive policies in general. I build on the backs of the fine work done by Gupta, Kulldorff, and Bhattacharya on the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) and similar impetus by Dr. Scott Atlas (advisor to POTUS Trump) who, like myself, was a strong proponent for a focused type of protection that was based on an age-risk stratified approach.
Court Decision on Masks in Schools
Laworfiction
lawyers against lockdown
“No-one should be excluded from education on the grounds that they are not wearing a face covering.”
This was what the School told the Court and was relied on by the Court in its decision that at this stage an injunction is not necessary to protect Child AB.
AB, aged 12, had taken the brave step to not to wear a mask at school, despite staff and peer pressure to wear one.
Child AB had given evidence that "Like one of my friends said to me "I feel as though wearing it is harming me, but I feel like we have to because I don’t want to get told off." Those were the words she was using."
She also reported “Teachers take it in turns, some of them seeming to enjoy it, wondering corridors and checking through the windows in classes to make sure everyone’s wearing masks. Three bad-behaviour points and you get excluded. It’s not done quietly but in front of everyone.”
At this stage the Court was not required to decide exactly what was happening in the school but it became important that the school assured the Court that Child AB would not be required to wear a mask. In giving this assurance, the school relied on its policy – derived from the government guidance – that it would not require any child to wear a mask, even if (like Child AB) they do not have a medical exemption.
The Court’s decision emphasises that no child in any school can be forced to wear a mask. No medical exemption is required.
The Court also noted that the school had not provided enough evidence to find it had conducted a full risk assessment or that it was sufficient. Neither the government nor the school has assessed the risk of physical or psychological harms from wearing masks throughout almost all the school day (in classrooms, in corridors and on public transport) and the Court acknowledged the detailed evidence of those harms by Chartered Health and Safety Practitioner, Ms Simone Plaut and Clinical Psychologist, Dr Zenobia Storah. These reports are available here:
Face masks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesis
An official Stanford University facemask study published in the US National Library of Medicine
Many countries across the globe utilised medical and non-medical face masks as non-pharmaceutical intervention for reducing the transmission and infectivity of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Although, scientific evidence supporting face masks’ efficacy is lacking, adverse physiological, psychological and health effects are established. Is has been hypothesised that face masks have compromised safety and efficacy profile and should be avoided from use. The current article comprehensively summarises scientific evidences with respect to wearing face masks in the COVID-19 era, providing prosper information for public health and decision making.