The Evidence Supporting Mask Mandates in Schools Is Weaker Than Biden Pretends

Wading into the bitter debate about face mask mandates in schools, President Joe Biden is threatening civil rights lawsuits against states that ban such requirements.

The studies the CDC cites to justify that stance generally were not designed to test the effectiveness of mask mandates.

Another problem: Almost none of the studies compared schools with mask mandates to otherwise similar schools without them, again making causal inferences impossible.

One exception was a CDC study of Georgia schools published in May, which found that COVID-19 infection was 37 percent less common in schools that required teachers and other staff members to wear masks, similar to the difference associated with "Improved ventilation." But the same study found that requiring students to wear masks was not associated with a statistically significant reduction in case rates.

In Florida, the CDC found that school districts without mask mandates had higher infection rates.

The implication, of course, is that some schools had "Success in limiting transmission" even without mask mandates or with mandates that did not apply to students.

Assuming that mask mandates in schools do make a difference, the benefits are likely to be small.

https://reason.com/2021/08/25/the-evidence-supporting-mask-mandates-in-schools-is-weaker-than-biden-pretends/