FACE masks could be made compulsory for primary school children if experts can agree on the issue as schools reopen for the new academic year this week.
A review is under way to examine if compulsory wearing of face masks in various settings like schools should be extended to children under the age of 13.
A spokesperson for the Health Information and Quality Authority revealed that they were asked by the National Public Health Emergency Team to examine the latest evidence on the minimum age for wearing face masks.
The spokesperson told the Independent that Hiqa’s review will “provide advice on whether the current minimum age should be reduced”.
They said: “We will shortly publish a protocol outlining what information will be considered. We anticipate publishing this advice in September.”
This comes as classrooms around the country reopen this week with primary school pupils exempt from wearing a face mask.
IMPLEMENTATION DIFFICULTIES
But DCU professor of Immunology Christine Lochser said that implementing mask-wearing will be “too difficult” in an age group this young.
She told Newstalk Breakfast: “We have done brilliantly in secondary schools, and I think it has worked really well.
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“But I think if you look at the age groups that we’re talking about – I think that while mask wearing has been proven to be a good de-risker, these children are a population that it’s going to be really really impossible to implement anything like that.
“I think that’s a really difficult thing to implement in children this small.”
The professor also noted that while the reopening of schools is being welcomed, many parents are concerned about this amidst talks of reopening society in general.
BACK TO SCHOOL
He said: “As many children return to classrooms across the country today, it is important to highlight to both children and their parents that considerable preparations have been made across the country to reopen schools safely.
“Our data clearly shows that, to date, the school environment was not a major source of disease transmission.
“In order to go back to school as safely as possible, my advice to children is to wash your hands or use hand sanitiser regularly and follow the protocols operating in your school.”