--- title: It’s Time to End Mandatory Masks in Schools description: A Virginia parent and internist writes that it's time to end mandatory masking in schools across the U.S. canonical: https://time.com/6145291/end-mandatory-masks-schools/ author: Jennifer Knips article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-02-05T12:00:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:45.552Z article:section: Ideas og:title: It’s Time to End Mandatory Masks in Schools og:description: A Virginia parent and internist writes that it's time to end mandatory masking in schools across the U.S. og:url: https://time.com/6145291/end-mandatory-masks-schools/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41497b916ba110c3/698a222847ca3895df3b93d0/GettyImages-1364504003.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Schools keep in-person learning during COVID-19 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: It’s Time to End Mandatory Masks in Schools twitter:description: A Virginia parent and internist writes that it's time to end mandatory masking in schools across the U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41497b916ba110c3/698a222847ca3895df3b93d0/GettyImages-1364504003.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # It’s Time to End Mandatory Masks in Schools > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: TIME for Kids Sits Down with Dr. Vivek Murthy [Watch (HLS stream): TIME for Kids Sits Down with Dr. Vivek Murthy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZJWzXvgf.m3u8) (5:00)  _Published 2022-01-13. TIME for Kids sits down with the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy._ by [Jennifer Knips](https://time.com/author/jennifer-knips/) ## Jennifer Knips Feb 5, 2022 12:00 PM UTC  A student does her work in a second and third grade class at Robert M. Pyles STEM Academy in Stanton, CA on Thursday, January 13, 2022\. Some school districts are seeing high absenteeism among students and staff and few substitute teachers to fill in the gaps. A student does her work in a second and third grade class at Robert M. Pyles STEM Academy in Stanton, CA on Thursday, January 13, 2022\. Some school districts are seeing high absenteeism among students and staff and few substitute teachers to fill in the gaps. Paul Bersebach-MediaNews Group/Orange County Register by [Jennifer Knips](https://time.com/author/jennifer-knips/) ## Jennifer Knips Feb 5, 2022 12:00 PM UTC I am a physician and mother of four children, two of whom attend public elementary school in northern Virginia. Our state’s newly inaugurated governor recently issued an executive order giving parents the choice of whether or not their children wear masks to school. But instead of complying, several districts including mine are [suing the state](https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/24/youngkin-masking-order-takes-effect/) to keep mask mandates in place. I believe it is time to follow the science and give parents the choice when it comes to masking in schools. This isn’t necessarily a popular opinion to express around here. After the governor issued his order, multiple members of a local mothers’ group I belong to passionately equated his action to large scale homicide in a frenzy of emotional emails. Despite the peril of going against the grain, I took a leap and hit “reply all,” calmly expressing my belief, supported by scientific evidence, that schools abide by the new executive order and transition to optional masking. I was fully prepared to have an inbox overflowing with hate mail. Instead, I received a multitude of private messages of support thanking me for being brave, presenting an alternative view and bringing scientific evidence to counter the usual echo chamber of fear mongering. Based on this response, I conclude that many parents agree with me but are afraid to speak up. Indeed, frustration with COVID-19 restrictions and school closures was [cited as a major reason](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/us/elections/in-virginia-frustration-with-schooling-during-the-pandemic-played-a-part-in-youngkins-win.html) Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, won his election in our blue state. Many parts of the U.S. issued mask mandates in 2020 when COVID-19 was new and poorly understood. It was sensible to take maximum precautions in a chaotic and frightening situation; many thought it a small sacrifice to make while scientists toiled to gain a greater understanding of the virus and to develop vaccines. But two years later we know much more about the virus and how to stop it, including abundant evidence showing the lack of efficacy of some of these measures (cleaning surfaces, [masking](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.19.21257467v1.full) in [schools](https://journals.lww.com/pidj/Fulltext/2021/11000/Age%5Fdependency%5Fof%5Fthe%5FPropagation%5FRate%5Fof.2.aspx)). Lifesaving vaccines are now also widely available. As a physician, I’m well aware that medical knowledge is constantly changing. As our understanding grows, our practice changes. This should be a time to peel back layers of mitigation that we now know to be ineffective, yet many school districts are doubling down. There is no significant evidence that the kind of masking (i.e. non-medical) that is common in schools is worth it. An Arizona study frequently cited by CDC director Rochelle Walensky as evidence for continued masking in schools has been [thoroughly dismantled](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/12/mask-guidelines-cdc-walensky/621035/). More and more experts have concluded that the evidence for masks in schools [doesn’t hold up to scrutiny](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/kids-masks-schools-weak-science/621133/). There are [several studies that show a minimal reductio](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/pdfs/mm7021e1-H.pdf)n in COVID-19 transmission with[ masks in schools](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment%5Fdata/file/1044767/Evidence%5Fsummary%5F-%5Fface%5Fcoverings.pdf), but the results were not statistically significant. Moreover, most of these studies do not account for[ Covid-19 vaccinations in adults and none of them take into account vaccinated children](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/pdfs/mm7039e3-H.pdf). According to data from the [Kaiser Family Foundation,](https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/update-on-covid-19-vaccination-of-5-11-year-olds-in-the-u-s/) 18.8% of children in the 5-11 age group are fully vaccinated, and 28.1% have received one dose. In vaccinated children, the flu poses more danger than COVID-19\. It is important to acknowledge that the risk of severe disease from COVID-19 to healthy children has always been low. As of this writing,[ CDC data shows 863 total pediatric deaths](https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-Focus-on-Ages-0-18-Yea/nr4s-juj3) related to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, which is less than 0.001% of the COVID-19 deaths in the U.S, and this number does not specify “from COVID-19” vs “with COVID-19.” While any death is a tragedy, many if not most of these children had [underlying medical conditions which made them exponentially more vulnerable](https://www.jwatch.org/na54498/2022/01/25/children-hospitalized-with-covid-19-clinical) to severe COVID-19 than the average child. Those in favor of mask mandates have assumed that asymptomatic children are a major source of spread but evidence does not exist to support this claim. U.S. policy is an outlier: the World Health Organization advises against masks for kids under 5 and only selectively for kids under 11, and many European nations have kept schools open without requiring masks. U.S. schools that remained open with or without masks have not seen major outbreaks over the past two years. Many students wear cloth masks that provide little to no protection; public health expert Dr. [Leana Wen says they are “little more than facial decorations.](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/don-t-wear-a-cloth-mask-cnn-medical-analyst-says-non-surgical-masks-are-useless/ar-AAS1JJK)” Yet we have had low spread in schools with facial decorations only. Isn’t it possible that kids don’t need masks at all, and we can start getting them back to a normal life? [**_Read More:_** _Omicron Could Be the Beginning of the End of the Pandemic_](https://time.com/6141679/omicron-end-covid-19/) Many people argue that masking is a small inconvenience for the greater good. However, masking kids is not a damage free intervention. It negatively affects learning and causes significant social and emotional harm. Masking impairs verbal and non-verbal communication between teachers and students, limits facial identification and has occasional physical side effects. [Visualization of the entire face i](https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/1075842341/growing-calls-to-take-masks-off-children-in-school)s of crucial importance to social, emotional, and speech development. My first grader has had to learn to read and make friends without ever seeing his teacher’s mouth or other students’ faces. Our children long for their former lives back, and they need to [see the expressions and reactions on the faces of their peers and teachers](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8064590/). This nonverbal feedback is how they often weigh their actions and behavior against those around them, developing social and emotional intelligence and interrelatedness that is crucial to their educational development. If masks were clearly proven to work to prevent transmission, perhaps it would be worth this detriment, but they aren’t. Masking in schools was intended to be temporary, and there needs to be an exit ramp from these policies. Children have been suffering from mask effects for two years, and enough is enough. At this point, teachers and other adults have all had the opportunity to be vaccinated, and if they feel uncomfortable or are at higher risk, they can wear a mask. Likewise, if parents do not yet feel comfortable with their children going maskless, or their child is at higher risk medically, they are free to continue masking. As with any medical intervention, risks must be weighed versus benefits, and there is no proof that universal masking in schools is beneficial. We need to take into account the lack of evidence for mask efficacy and re-evaluate our policies and procedures. We know much more now than two years ago. The virus is likely shifting from a pandemic to endemic, and we need to shift with it. Parents should be able to follow the science, properly evaluate risk, and have the choice to unmask their children. ## Transcript Hi, my name is Raonic but I am 12 years old and a kid reporter for time for kids. I am cured with the US Surgeon General. Dr. Vivek Murthy to talk about his recent advisory on mental health is a good time to have this discussion because the pandemic has been hard on kids mental health. In the recent rise. In Omicron cases is causing stress all over again, Rick sample. Some schools. Mine included have decided to go virtual after the holiday break. How dr. Murthy thank you for your time. I am so excited to speak with you conversation as well. Thanks for doing this with me. Thank you, sir. I so should we Jump Right In? Can you please explain what the health advisory is and what your most recent mental health advisory says of 2021. I don't know any Surgeon General advisory is a report issue to the country to call people's attention to an urgent public help, So there's something it's concerning impact, People's Health, in the back way. We want the public to know about it, but we focus this on young people in particular because for a long time now struggling to decide to issue the mental health advisory. Now, people around the world and has promised to address the mental health challenges, the young people experiencing All Over America. Schools are going back to her about learning videos of Omicron for many kids. This is stressful and a setback, the other advice for coping with it. Ended last year. You started a new school and then I was really hard to make friends that I can only imagine in particular, if we were virtual, if you had to and do distance learning during that time and probably even harder. How did you deal with those feelings of not being able to make friends if perhaps experiencing and we started to chat with each other through online? And it made me feel a lot better. And also I had my parents and my family and my brother reaching out to people who care about you is so important during times like that. And that one thing I want to ask for help. Please know that you're not alone. Please know that others experience this to that. Ask for help. That's never a sign of weakness. That's a good question and it looks a bit different for everyone. Always tell from the outside and I assume you're doing, okay? Just that they seem to be gathering with other people or smiling all the time, feeling good about, who you are and comfortable with where you are. The other thing that's important relationships, you have with other people with mental health, involves having good relationships with family and friends. That doesn't mean you need a lot of them. You just need a few and lastly, good know. How is about any able to respond to difficult time, that will come up and all of our lives. These are all part of a big mental health, a relationship with a relationship with other people and our ability to deal with difficult times when they come. All the young people a hard time during this is been a very difficult and struggling. I don't want anyone out there to think that somehow as they're struggling, that when you gone through in this last two years is a very Human Experience, but I also want to remind you if they would we as human beings with extraordinary power and resilience for willing. I should look for a willing to reach for out. Thank you for being an advocate, a champion to help other people. 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