For safe return to school, all children over the age of two should wear a mask, regardless of their vaccination status.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the leading US association of specialists, writes this in an update of its guidelines, which still recommends face-to-face lessons.
Face masks for everyone, US experts write, are recommended because a significant portion of the student population is not yet eligible for vaccines.
In addition, in some schools there is no monitoring of the vaccination status of students, teachers and staff, and in some communities with low coverage there may be a strong circulation of the virus.
"The priority must be to bring the children back to school with their friends and their teachers - explains Sonja O'Leary, who coordinated the drafting of the document -. Combining different types of protection, from vaccines to masks to hand hygiene, will make learning in person is safe and possible for everyone ".
The indication of the association, reports the CNN, is even more stringent than that of the CDC, which instead gives the possibility for vaccinated students or teachers not to wear a mask. In Italy, a recent CTS opinion recommends spacing, but where this is not possible, it recommends maintaining the other measures, starting with the use of surgical masks indoors. (HANDLE).
