Hvis danske skolebørn bar masker, ville smittetallet falde i Danmark
Make your youngest school kids wear a mask, Denmark
If Danish school children wore masks, the number of infections would fall in Denmark
“Does he practice with a mask on? Poor kid! ” That was one of the comments on one of my Facebook posts, where I had happily announced that my son could now attend soccer practice after 540 days at home from school and leisure activities. I was speechless over the heartlessness of the passive-aggressive provocation.
Since then, it has dawned on me that many Danes have a fierce aversion to children wearing masks. Why, I do not fully understand, because if you ask the kids here in the US what they think, they do not seem to have as much against it as the parents who are opposed to it. The kids just want to go to school, play with their friends, and go to their after school activities. If that means they have to wear a mask, then they will do it.
In fact, I think children are much more adaptable than many adults. At least my experience is that they do not see it as a problem at all, but have now become so used to wearing masks that they no longer think about it or mind it.
Denmark has navigated through the covid pandemic in a way that has spared the horrific death tolls we have seen in the United States, Brazil, and in many other countries. The schools have not been as badly affected as they have here in the US and the Danish health care system has been able to keep up. But the number of infections are rising, and now it is yet again necessary to reinstate restrictions. Danish health experts are nervous for what the next few months will look like.
When my kids came back to their schools, I was nervous about whether the infections would go crazy and how long it would take before the schools had to shut down again.
At my son’s elementary school, there are over 650 students. When the kids returned to school, vaccinations for those under 12 were not yet approved. It was a requirement that all students, staff, and teachers wear masks.
At my daughter’s middle school, 75% of students were vaccinated. The school has over 960 kids. Here, the requirement for students, staff and teachers to wear the mask was the same as at my son’s school.
Long story short, it seems that the mask requirement works. In my son’s class, which has more than 30 students, we have not yet had to keep him at home due to Covid in the class.
The children would rather go to school, see their friends and have as normal a child and youth life as possible than sit at home in front of their screens and go to school virtually. I know this for a fact after talking to many of the kids who stayed at home for over 1½ years. If the chance of having a normal childhood means that they have to wear masks in schools, then they would rather do that than stay at home.
It is the adults who have to pull themselves together – for the sake of the well-being of their kids and for the infection rates to be curbed. Sending the kids to school with a mask on is a small price to pay for the mental and physical health of the Danish children and the prospect of keeping the country open.
(partly, Google translate)
Danish-American Eyes on Society 