Students should wear masks in the classroom

Former HSE boss warns of ‘serious’ outbreaks in Irish schools

THE former boss of the HSE has said that secondary school pupils should wear facemasks in the classroom.

Under the guidelines, primary and secondary school students will not be required to wear facemasks or coverings when they return to the classroom at the end of the month.

However, former chief executive of the HSE Tony O’Brien said yesterday there is a ‘clear-cut case’ that secondary school students should have to wear masks in the classroom.

Accusing the Department of Education of ‘dithering’ on the issue, Mr O’Brien revealed that he signed a petition calling for the measure to be introduced.

Face coverings will be compulsory in shops and shopping centres from next Monday, with the rule already in place for public transport.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr O’Brien warned that outbreaks in schools would mean ‘quite serious’ consequences for students who’ve already lost months of education.

‘It is going to be a slightly odd situation when [students] are going to need to wear masks to travel to school on public transport and then, when they are in a situation which is likely to be equally crowded, they will not be required to wear them,’ he said.

‘Many of those students are going to be coming from families who have vulnerable family members, some of the teachers might have vulnerabilities, other students will have vulnerabilities.’

Professor of Public Health Systems in Dublin City University, Anthony Staines, yesterday agreed that secondary school students should wear masks because older children and young adults ‘spread the virus as well as adults’.

‘They are less likely to be symptomatic but that doesn’t mean they are less likely to be infected. They should be wearing masks,’ he told the Mail.

Prof. Staines pointed to the further outbreaks in schools in Israel as an example.

‘The analysis of what happened in Israel does suggest their major schools’ outbreak came after they stopped wearing masks in school, when it got very hot. It suggests that wearing masks is probably a good idea for the students.

‘If we open the schools, we want to be able to keep them open.’

He added that schools can open much more safely if there is less of the virus in circulation and this can be achieved by pursuing a zero-Covid strategy.

‘The Government’s current plan is to let this virus just continue at a low level until we get a vaccine. We’re talking nine months to a year if everything goes really well. It is very hard to keep this virus at a very low level.

‘If we have a plan to go to zero, at the very least it will get the numbers down,’ he said.

Yesterday, the Department of Education said: ‘The advice is clear that face coverings are not suitable for children under the age of 13. In postprimary schools, the health advice is that students should not be requested to wear face coverings but if a student wishes to wear one, they should. not be discouraged.

‘The Department also recognises that in classroom settings where it is difficult to maintain physical distancing the use of a face visor may be suitable.’

When the Irish Daily Mail asked the Department of Health if it was considering mandating the use of facemasks in other sectors such as offices, it said: ‘There is no intention at present to extend mandatory requirements for face coverings beyond the retail and public transport settings.’

The Department added that public health advice is kept under continuing review by the National Public Health Emergency Team.

‘Teachers might be vulnerable’