South West Wiltshire’s MP has questioned the Education Secretary on his guidance for mask wearing in secondary schools. Speaking in the House of Commons, Dr Andrew Murrison asked Nadhim Zahawi:
“What evidence does he have of effectiveness, particularly since the evidence from the US suggests that the effectiveness of masks varies from 98% for an N95 respirator down to about 25% for a three layer cotton mask. If he is insisting that children wear masks, he presumably contemplating the sort of guidance he should issue also about the constitution of those masks and how they should be worn to ensure maximum effectiveness at preventing transmission.”
The Secretary of State for Education stressed that masks were one mitigation to transmission but vaccination was the greatest. He said that the wearing of masks was studied by his department in over 100 schools. Mr Zahawi said:
“In the face of a highly infectious variant it is something that I thought was necessary based on that observation study and of course the recommendation by HSA. It is something that I did reluctantly because the challenges around learning are evident and I want to keep them for as shorter time as possible.”
The BA12 Agenda 