Wearing face masks to counter COVID-19 provides no significant protective benefit to children, with kids facing potential developmental challenges from masking, according to a recent review of multiple studies.
The review, published in the BMJ Journal on Dec. 2, investigated the effectiveness of wearing face masks in children during COVID-19. Out of the 22 studies analyzed, 16 reported “no effect of mask wearing on infection or transmission.” While the remaining six found a protective association between mask wearing and transmission, these studies had a “critical or serious risk of bias.” Overall, “we fail to find any evidence of benefit from masking children, to either protect themselves or those around them, from COVID-19,” it stated.
