According to the research, mandatory face masks in schools were effective against Corona

The mask requirement in Swiss schools has curbed the spread of the corona virus. This is the conclusion of a study from the University of Bern, published Wednesday in the journal “Plos Medicine”.

According to the study, airborne concentrations of Covid were on average 70 percent lower when masks were mandatory. Using an air purifier reduced the viral load in the air by 40 percent.

The researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing data from two secondary schools in the canton of Solothurn during the omicron wave from January to March 2022. Air samples, the CO2 content and the number and size of air particles were measured in the classrooms. As the repetitive Covid testing was conducted in the schools for the duration of the study, data on infections was also available.

In the study, the researchers estimated that during the mask obligation, which applied for two to three weeks of the study phase, two to 19 infections in 90 schoolchildren could be avoided. This corresponds to about two to 21 percent.

“That’s quite a lot when you consider how many infections could have been avoided if the mask requirement had applied throughout the study period of seven weeks or more,” said study leader Lukas Fenner of the University of Bern when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. According to Fenner, these results are also consistent with the results of similar studies from Germany.

The mask requirement in Swiss schools has long been controversial. Countless people demonstrated against it. Some parents from the canton of Bern even filed a lawsuit in federal court without success. Among other things, it was feared that the children could be harmed by wearing the masks. In addition, the effectiveness of this measure was questioned.

(aeg/sda)