One public health expert is slamming policy around calls for parents to encourage their children to mask in schools. .Alberta Health Services (AHS) sent an email to Alberta parents via school boards Wednesday warning that "Influenza season, also known as the 'Flu' season, is here." ."We want to help protect the health of children and families by decreasing the spread of influenza so that you and your children can stay safe and healthy throughout the winter season," said AHS in the letter..The letter further warns "some children can get very sick" and "spread influenza to friends and family." .AHS, in the letter, promoted influenza vaccines that are "safe, effective, and offer the best defense from serious illness," and encouraged parents with children six months and older to have their child immunized against the illness. AHS also listed several other actions parents and children could take to prevent infection, including staying home when feeling sick, frequent hand washing, and clean and disinfect surfaces frequently..Although stating "individuals should be supported regardless of their choice to mask or not," AHS also encouraged the wearing of "well-fitting, high quality" masks "especially in crowded indoor settings." ."Wearing a mask can help reduce your risk of becoming sick and help protect others from being exposed." .Pediatric Neurologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Calgary, Dr. Eric Payne, also obtained a master of public health from Harvard University and served as a consultant at the Mayo Clinic..Payne released an open letter titled Time to Unmask the Truth, now published by the Brownstone Institute, a non-profit organization offering a hub of commentary, analysis, research, and interpretation from a wide variety of viewpoints from scientists to intellectuals. .Payne opened his letter by pointing to calls from Ontario's chief medical officer of health to bring masking back to all indoor public settings including schools, while Alberta Premier Danielle Smith affirmed "our government will not permit any further masking mandates of children in Alberta's K-12 education system.".He also highlighted her claims "the detrimental effects on the mental health, development and education of children in classroom settings is well understood, and we must turn the page on what has been an extremely difficult time for children, along with their parents and teachers,” which he said led to "attacks and gaslighting by the usual COVID commentators who failed to provide a single study in support of their pediatric masking claims." ."They suggest masks will prevent our kids from infection and in turn, we as parents may be shielded from missing work," wrote Payne. ."We’ve seen this before. In September 2021, Alberta reinstated province-wide mask mandates and the COVID Delta wave took off nonetheless."."To be clear, the policy-grade data regarding masking for COVID-19 and influenza fail to show any protection against infection. If the Ontario CMOH has such data, he has not provided it. Yet the relentless messaging that masking our children is safe and effective persists.".Payne said the SARS-CoV-2 virus, along with influenza and RSV, can spread through aerosols and can remain infectious "for at least hours and on surfaces for days" and said that is the "primary source of indoor transmission.".He likened mask-wearing to that of hockey players shooting marbles through a standard net.."...SARS-CoV-2 has no difficulty passing through and around a surgical grade mask given its small size and aerosolized capability," said Payne. .He also explained the importance of N95 Respirator Fit Testing, which ensures a proper seal, and said it is impossible to maintain "an adequate seal for prolonged durations," especially for children. .Payne said other solutions to be considered include recommendations from Dr. Stephen Petty, a professional engineer, certified industrial hygienist and safety professional. Petty calls for better ventilation to dilute the virus or use filters and destroy the virus, as implemented successfully by airlines and used in many schools. Petty's testimony in the US led to the overturning of mask mandates. .Citing studies from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Payne said it has been "consistently shown masking against influenza is not associated with reduced case numbers" and included links to several published studies. One study concluded: "N95 respirators should not be recommended for the general public and in non-high-risk medical staff." .Payne pointed to a pair of randomized, controlled trials regarding COVID-19 published to date. Both found little to no personal protective effect from masking on COVID-19 community transmission. Payne said the CDC conducted "a low-quality survey study" that too resulted in masks being "not statistically significant." He said other observational studies were done assessing masking protection from COVID-19, "all suffer fatal flaws including lack of a control group and unmeasured confounding variables." .The public health specialist also pointed to recent reports showing masking can produce a multitude of possible harms, including mask contamination, headaches, psychological harms, difficulty breathing, as well as physiological impacts including lowered oxygen saturation with prolonged use and speech and communication impacts. One pre-print study revealed a "striking neurocognitive decline of 27-37 points among infants born since mid-2020." ."When you consider how dirty children’s hands get, and even adults reuse the same masks left in their cars, the cleanliness of the mask and what we may be inhaling becomes immensely important, especially to those with weakened immune systems," said Payne. .Referencing numerous large population studies from Ireland, Iceland, France, and Australia, Payne confirmed "kids remain very unlikely to be hospitalized or die with or from COVID-19" and added, "children are poor COVID-19 spreaders." ."Since pandemic onset almost three years ago, there have been five pediatric-aged deaths with or from COVID-19 in Alberta, with most dying with and not because of COVID-19," said Payne. ."Kids are disproportionately better protected from COVID-19 than from other common diseases, including a lower mortality rate compared to pneumonia and influenza.".Payne said he believes there's a "serious disconnect" with current data on masking trial truths verses what he called "the ongoing political science push to mask even our children." ."Those perpetuating the recent cacophony of horror at Premier Smith’s scientifically astute stance against further masking our kids fail to provide a single policy-grade study in support of masking children, while dismissing any potential harms, and downplaying their own academic and financial conflicts of interest," said Payne. ."Health officials must immediately provide policy-level evidence of the direct benefit of masking to kids themselves or be willing to defend their misguided and harmful advice in a debate. Please embrace informed consent and patient autonomy, stop allowing our children to be used as pawns in military fear propaganda, and as adult COVID-19 shields.".Payne told the Western Standard he forwarded the letter to Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Mark Joffe, Senior Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Laura McDougall, and the premier.
