Why Scottish children aged 5-11 were made to wear masks for a year

Scottish 5-11 year olds were made to wear masks in all indoor public places from July 2020 until July 2021. This happened despite the fact that no other parts of the U.K. required children to wear masks, and despite WHO advice that children under 6 should not wear masks at all, and 6-11 year olds should only wear them in areas where transmission of the virus was widespread. There were several periods of time (eg July-August 2020) when transmission of the virus was negligible in Scotland, and indeed the Scottish Government stated at that time that we were close to eliminating the virus. Asking children to wear masks when transmission was so low was clearly against WHO guidance, yet the Scottish Government still required it.

At various points over the past year, in many geographical areas such as the islands, Moray and the Highlands, prevalence of the virus was very low. Yet the Scottish Government still required children to wear masks contrary to WHO guidance.

Furthermore, when the required for children under 12 to wear masks was finally dropped this summer, it wasn’t announced formally by the First Minister, and very little publicity was given to the change, leading to poor public awareness that the measures had been dropped.

Why the contribution is important

The Scottish Government should never again be allowed to impose non-pharmaceutical interventions on children against WHO guidance.

by ACM on September 24, 2021 at 11:43AM

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Average rating: 4.9
Based on: 34 votes

Comments

  • Posted by RHarley September 24, 2021 at 12:46

    A very pertinent issue for school pupils. Especially those with hearing difficulties , those with ASD , those with auditory processing problems and so on. The exemptions are not sufficient to mitigate their difficulties in understanding as the majority remain with faces covered.

  • Posted by Starrysonja September 24, 2021 at 13:10

    A very important issue. Children this young should never have been subjected to this, particularly as it was not recommened by health professionals and was not required any where else in the UK.

  • Posted by meganldwis95 September 24, 2021 at 13:22

    My cousin of the deaf community attends a local school and this has made things difficult for her.
    She has also been spoken down to by staff as she raised her hand to a teacher to ask to speak up to be heard and he assumed she was lying. She may have some limitations but if support is in place and people stop making a stigma around this community, the world would be a lot kinder. We have expectations of educators to keep children safe and secure and I feel this is not a safe place for her needs.

  • Posted by Jocelynh September 24, 2021 at 14:20

    This should be top of the list for investigation. There is and was no need for this intervention, and yet it is being perpetuated for no good reason. Masks were worn when schools began in August and cases continued to rise, then they began to fall, but masks still continued. It would seem that the continued use is as a sop to teaching unions rather than following any science.

  • Posted by Kaygee13 September 24, 2021 at 16:07

    There has been insufficient publicity letting the general public know that children under 12 in Scotland are no longer are advised to wear masks. Why has this not become more widely reported?

    I still regularly see young children wearing masks, even in the open air.

    I agree with all the above comments.

  • Posted by DMullaghduff September 25, 2021 at 09:52

    There was no evidence that this was an effective mitigation. Indeed it is causing more harm than good. Is the science in England different to Scotland? There they had no masks on pupils since May 17th.

  • Posted by carolinecarolinemeldrum September 25, 2021 at 11:26

    This point is by far the most important of the entire questionnaire. I truly believe that these masks are making children ill and having a horrendous effect on their physical and mental health. My children have never worn a mask, inside or outside school and never will.
    Holyrood does not enforce a mask mandate so why should schools? Children have been the worst afflicted by the awful choices made by the Scottish Govt.

  • Posted by Leia September 25, 2021 at 11:49

    This was an absolutely disgraceful action that any children were forced to wear masks
    despite numerous studies that showed the varied harm to both physical and psychological health
    This can be regarded as nothing other than institutionalized child abuse
    I have seen children severely affected by oxygen deprivation; severe anxiety and depression; chest pain; extreme breathlessness; headaches; nightmares, and many other debilitating effects, apart from the severe harm this has done to normal child development, brain functioning, and social development. The fact that this is still being enforced for our children in secondary schools in Scotland is criminal

  • Posted by jmbrown September 26, 2021 at 09:31

    Why when scientific research does not show they are effective are Scottish children required to wear them. Who are they wearing them for? Themselves or teachers .

  • Posted by ConcernedCitizen111 September 26, 2021 at 15:05

    Agreed that this is unnecessary, unscientific institutionalised child abuse, should never have been implemented and should be removed for secondary school pupils immediately.

  • Posted by SDrysdale September 27, 2021 at 07:15

    Disgusting. Children should never have to restrict their breathing for anyone, asking them to do so just shows how cruel and uncaring the Scottish government has become. The evidence to support use of masks is weak, and yet they went ahead with it and forced this on our children. It's unforgiveable.

  • Posted by Mgtmail September 29, 2021 at 17:26

    Absolutely unnecessary, more focused on ensuring people conform rather than in any scientific evidence. Long term damage immeasurable for some of our children

  • Posted by RachelBlackburn September 29, 2021 at 19:37

    Disgraceful that young children were forced to wear masks - and that we still see it happening because the change in policy was barely communicated.

  • Posted by jenga135 September 30, 2021 at 22:49

    Definitely agree
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