COVID-19: Masks mandates reduced Alberta school outbreaks by 68%
In Feb 2022 Alberta was given data that schools are hubs of COVID-19 infections, cases are spread from schools to community and increased risk of children hospitalization each wave (
In Feb 2022 Alberta was given data that schools are hubs of COVID-19 infections, cases are spread from schools to community and increased risk of children hospitalization each wave (
https://twitter.com/DGBassani/status/1547403470906556416). 🧵1/
The very disappointing part is that the Alberta government buried their own analysis and only a court-order was able to bring it to light for the public to see (
https://twitter.com/wingkarli/status/1547294808133120001). 2/
They looked at outbreaks in schools with and without mandates and found schools without mask mandates had 3.2x more outbreaks in their schools on average (page 75). 3/ 
Not only that, but there are more cases in the communities surrounding schools than the average across the whole city of Edmonton (page 78). 4/
You can also see that the hospitalization rate of children per 100,000 population has been getting more severe with each wave, especially in our youngest children (page 79). 5/
Between waves 3 and 5, hospitalization rates have increased:
5.5x = < 1 years
3.8x = 5-9 years
2.8x = 1-4 years
6/
5.5x = < 1 years
3.8x = 5-9 years
2.8x = 1-4 years
6/
In the 5th wave alone children < 1 years old were being hospitalized at a rate 12.7x higher than school age children 5-19 years old so you really don't want siblings bringing the virus home from school. 7/
Despite evidence, provincial governments and ministers of health & education have been trying to convince all that kids don't transmit the virus in schools or impact the community. There is a big difference to what they say in private compared to what they say to the public. 8/
As Dr. David Fisman puts it "you get this manufacture of epidemiological uncertainty, where none exists" (
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1547571197453381632). 9/
You will never hear a public health official say, "kids will transmit and amplify in communities, but we think it’s worth it, given trade offs and the political considerations". 10/
Meanwhile not providing proper mitigations in schools leads to high absences of students and teachers, not to mention the risk of Long COVID for every person who gets infected. 11/
Dr. Christina Pagel highlights that at the end of this school year in the UK, the highest ever absences were recorded for secondary school with 19% of students gone! (
https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1547164986614636550). 12/
There were also 9% absent in primary school and 8% of teachers missing causing mass disruptions. 13/
That is why we need to make schools safer #FASSST before they reopen again in just another month (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1551535300224208897). 14/
Improving ventilation, filtering the air and actually monitoring air quality can help achieve a significant reduction in the chance our children will get infected or transmit the virus at school helping prevent it get back into the community as well (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1551882929768374273)15/
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