Mask wearing at schools should be mandatory for students, says Disability Rights Commissioner

Wednesday, 4 May 2022

Doctors and scientists calling for the mask mandate to be reinstated in schools for winter have written an open letter to the Government with a list of recommendations.

Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero is calling on the Government to reconsider its position and make mask-wearing mandatory for students.

The Government lifted the mask mandate in schools on April 13, when the country moved to the orange traffic light setting.

School leaders were left to make their own call on mask-wearing rules for staff and students, causing backlash from health experts.

Tesoriero said for some disabled people, wearing a mask, and requiring others to wear them, gave necessary protection as well as great comfort.

The Government lifted the mask mandate in schools on April 13, when the country moved to orange. (File photo).

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“The fact that some are unable to wear masks makes it even more important for others to wear them to provide greater protection for all,” she said. “The exemption process rightfully allows for those who are unable to wear masks to not have to.”

Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero is calling on the Government to reconsider its position and make mask-wearing mandatory for students.

“I’m asking the Government to reconsider its position and make mask wearing mandatory for students. If not then, I’m asking schools to use the ability they have to make it so. That’s because mask wearing at schools helps reduce transmission.”

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She said mask wearing is particularly vital at schools given there is still no vaccine for our under-fives and the majority of our 5 to 11-year-olds are yet to receive their recommended two doses.

“It’s not only children who are at increased risk of the virus and its long-term harms, but also teachers, whānau and the wider community,” she said.

Tesoriero said the current setting means schools were having to individually assess the risk of the virus spreading in their community as well as managing opposition to any stance which requires masks to be worn.

For some children with sensory disabilities, wearing a mask can be “very hard”, said Hester Warren, director of the Seabrook McKenzie Centre in Christchurch, a charitable trust that work with kids with disabilities.

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Some children who come into the centre for assessments may be fine wearing a mask, but others might not, so staff 'have to be very careful', she said.

The advice they’ve been taking is from the Ministry of Health’s website, but at their centre, they have been asking students to wear a mask in public areas. However, in some classrooms there was only one teacher to three students, and the teacher might be fine without the students wearing a mask.

“I like the fact that every organisation can make a decision based on the needs of the people in their community,” Warren said.

'In our situation, we would not make it mandatory, we want to meet the needs of the children,” she said. “But I can understand the need to make it mandatory for public schools.”

Students and staff at Mt Roskill Grammar School in Auckland were being strongly encouraged to wear face masks indoors, said school principal Greg Watson.

“If Covid-19 cases spiked again at the school, we would consider requiring mask indoors again for a time,” he said. “We are yet to build back larger gatherings such as school assemblies and will have specific requirements when these events are re-established.”

With the first week of the new school term, a “great majority” of students and teachers were using masks indoors, he said.

Tesoriero said additional measures to increase the protection offered by mask wearing should include: providing free, appropriately sized respirator masks to students and staff, supporting children who need to see faces to communicate and strengthening other protections such as ventilation.

In April, findings from a Human Rights Commission inquiry said the Government’s Omicron response put disabled people at risk.

A report into the inquiry stated the aspirations and needs of disabled people and their whānau in New Zealand were not been given prominence in government policy and decision-making throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ministry of Health were approached for comment regarding face masks in schools, but did not respond by publication deadline.