*From Dick Atlee:*
*Hello, Superintendent McMillan,I heard about the strep outbreak in your schools fromhttps://www.abc12.com/app/2020/10/02/health-department-investigating-after-high-number-of-strep-throat-cases-at-shepherd-schools/ <https://www.abc12.com/app/2020/10/02/health-department-investigating-after-high-number-of-strep-throat-cases-at-shepherd-schools/>in which Dr. Morse of the state Health Department referred to the situationas "strange" and "under investigation."I understand that the current school-mask situation mandated by thegovernor makes the situation difficult, but I'm wondering if considerationis being given to those masks as a driver of the growing strep problem. Thefact that the problem seems to be more prevalent in the elementary schoolwould tend to support that possibility, given the clear evidence that youngchildren don't know how to — and can't reasonably be expected to — safelyuse masks.The research literature on masks with respect to viral particles (primarilyinfluenza) is quite mixed on their efficacy. The literature on medicalmasks in an operating room environment seems fairly clear that masks don'thave a statistically significant effect on post-clean-surgery woundinfection. But to the extent that bacteria are orders of magnitude largerthan viruses, it seems likely that any that come to contaminate the insideof a mask would create a serious rebreathing accelerant for the childwearing the mask, whereas otherwise the bacteria would be dispersed anddiluted in the environment.In terms of relative health risk, SARS-Cov-2 has over many months beenshown to be of little health significance to young kids, whereas strep is aknown significant danger.Has any thought been given to masks as a vector in this situation?Dick AtleeSouthwest Harbor, ME* --- Support News from Underground: http://bit.ly/NFUSupport You received this email because you are subscribed to News from Underground. To unsubscribe from this email list, please go to: http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=pIdjNUgiG2h8yxbhC54SSy4SEskAoEMs For archives, please go to: http://archives.simplelists.com/nfu
