Walensky on Questionable School Mask Mandate Study Cited by CDC: There Are Many Studies Defending Masks in Schools

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky responded to a question on criticism of the study that the agency has repeatedly used to justify school mask mandates by stating that there have been multiple studies “that have demonstrated that our layered prevention strategies, including masks in schools, are able to keep our schools safely open.” And that the best way to keep schools open “is to use those layered prevention strategies, and that includes not only vaccinating our children and our adults, but also to continue to mask, certainly in the context of this very transmissible Omicron variant.”

A viewer asked, [relevant exchange begins around 10:00] “You have consistently cited one study in Arizona as justification for mask mandates in schools. Yet, there’s reporting in The Atlantic that shows that the study is deeply flawed. Will you follow the science and stop relying on faulty studies and end mask mandates for children in schools?”

Walensky responded, “There [has] been study after study, not only in this country, but in other countries, that have demonstrated that our layered prevention strategies, including masks in schools, are able to keep our schools safely open. What I would say now is that we have the capacity with vaccines available now to children above the age of 5 that we would encourage parents to get their children vaccinated. Importantly, we want to be able to keep our schools open and the best way to do that is to use those layered prevention strategies, and that includes not only vaccinating our children and our adults, but also to continue to mask, certainly in the context of this very transmissible Omicron variant.”

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