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Mandatory masking in schools reduced COVID-19 cases during delta surge, study finds
BETHESDA, Maryland - A new study finds schools with mandatory masking during the delta variant surge had far fewer cases of in-school transmission of COVID-19 when compared to schools with optional or partial masking policies. The study, published in Pediatrics and funded by the National Institutes of Health, compared more than 1.1 million students and over 157,000 staff attending in-person schooling across nine states: North Carolina, Wisconsin, Missouri, California, Washington, Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas and Texas.Researchers conducted the study when the delta variant was the dominant strain and found that mask requirements resulted in 72-percent fewer cases. Their study did not obtain data on school masking in preventing the spread of the omicron variant. The study included 61 school districts from kindergarten through grade 12 that provided data from July 26, 2021, through Dec.