Ex school head: ‘Instilling fear in pupils about Covid could be doing them great harm yet the risk to young children is tiny’

A child sitting at a desk where they have been for nearly two hours, in near silence, wearing a mask, puts up their hand to ask for help.

The teacher, wearing a mask steps out from behind a screen wearing a mask and puts on a visor.

The pupil also puts on a visor. The teacher comes to the pupil and stands six feet away. The child explains their difficulty in their book.

Is that what we want, is it necessary?

Education needs inter activity, communication, complex explanation, showing and empathy. What about teamwork and group work?

What about children with special needs or who just find education challenging and who more than most need lengthy personal contact?

The message sent out by masks is clear — the teacher is a danger to me and I am a danger to them and my classmates.

Can learning take place in this atmosphere of fear and anxiety? Haven’t the children lost enough?

Naturally parents and teachers are anxious. Chris Whitty says, “the chances of children dying of Covid are incredibly small”.

“No confirmed cases exist anywhere in the world of school pupils passing on Covid to their teachers,” according to Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology member of the UK government’s advisory body, SAGE.

He added that “the most important thing then is to make sure those who need protection are protected”.

This means carrying out proper risk assessments on those teachers, staff and pupils who feel at risk-to include personal health and personal circumstances.

It also means surely a realistic view of risk at school.

According to Office of National Statistics there is a one in three and a half million chance of a 5 to 14 year dying — more chance of dying in a road accident or from a falling tree.

Cases are not leading to children hospitalisations according to the Department of Health (DoH) Dashboard-which also reveals that the average age of death by Covid is 82.

What are the effects of school closure, lockdown and masks on the mental health of our children? Professor Woolhouse again: “... we absolutely should never return to a position where children cannot play or go to school ...” (he says UK lockdown was a “monumental mistake on a global scale”)

One hundred leading child psychologists highlighted the mental health risks to children, describing lockdown as a “national disaster” Professor Ellen Townsend highlights the “rising anxiety and loneliness”.

Suicide is already the leading cause of death in young people aged 19 and under, “we need to recognise the sacrifice children have already made”.

They called for a return to normal life-“allow them to play together and to continue their education and enjoy all extra curricular activities”.

The concerns of the Royal College of Psychiatrists re Covid related self harming have been highlighted by Dame Mary Peters and others.

Do we imagine instilling young minds with fear will have no long term effects? I was passing a mummy with a three-year old child — the child grabbed her mummy’s leg and hid behind her — her mum said “she won’t meet anybody”.

And what does the science say about the psychological effects of mask wearing?

A widely known piece of research know as the Still Face experiment reveals that a child becomes emotionally distressed when they are unable to see and reciprocate facial expressions.

The potential impact on children’s social and emotional development of making them spend time surrounded by people whose facial expressions are covered may have disastrous consequences, according the Still Face experiment findings.

Whilst Psychology Today reports the brain fills in gaps in what we know about others, the brain speculates on what the mask is hiding, in a pandemic the face mask looks like it might be concealing a dangerous infection. Filling in gaps in what you know about others but doing so under background conditions where the brain projects threat onto the outside world, is now linked to serious mental illness.

There has been a 200% increase in calls to the children’s mental health helpline.

A report by the Children’s Health Defence refers to the physical effects of mask wearing; the reduced oxygen levels will increase anxiety, fatigue and brain fog, decrease learning capacity due to decreased oxygen to the brain, weaken their immune systems.

What does the science say about the effectiveness of masks?

Mandatory face coverings is the wrong policy, says Professor Carl Heneghan, Professor of Evidence based medicine at Oxford and a government advisor addressing the Northern Ireland Executive.

He believes the evidence used to impose the mandatory wearing of masks in public spaces is “poor quality”.

“By all means people can wear masks but they can’t say it’s an evidence based decision.”

Prof Tom Jefferson (Oxford University) agrees: “Aside from people who are exposed on the frontlines there is no evidence that masks make any difference.”

To conclude:

• Face masks should not be worn by healthy individuals-there is no evidence to suggest they are effective in stopping such people from becoming ill (American Medical Association)

• And Dr Jenny Harries Deputy Chief Scientific Officer of England puts it thus “masks could actually trap the virus and the wearer then starts to breathe it in putting themselves at more risk”

• Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England says “there is overwhelming evidence that missing school more harmful for children than virus” and that “children are more likely to be harmed by not returning to school next month than if they catch coronavirus”.

• The UK’s chief medical adviser also says “many more [children] were likely to be harmed by not going than harmed by going” to school.

• The UN Convention of Human Rights of the Child “in all actions concerning children ... undertaken by public institutions ... the best interests of the child shall be the primary consideration”.

Are we doing this?

• Hugh McCarthy is former principal of Killicomaine Junior High School

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