Let teachers wear N95 masks

Experts and studies that contradict each other. Commentators tearing their shirts off. And, through that, legitimate concerns.

Like others before it, the debate over the wearing of N95 masks by teachers is taking place at high decibel levels. So that the nuances are lost.

In this case, however, a relatively simple solution emerges: let the teachers choose their type of mask themselves (surgical or N95) while waiting for the science to become clearer.

Yes, it would involve some costs and a bit of logistics. But it’s nothing out of the ordinary or impossible: in Ontario, we do exactly that.

Given current knowledge, it is difficult to see what risks we run with such an approach. It is unlikely that, in a year, we will slap our foreheads saying: “But what a mistake we made by offering N95s to teachers! »

The benefits would be immediate. First, this freedom of choice would reassure some worried teachers who, rightly or wrongly, consider themselves poorly protected for this new school year, which is taking place at high risk.

Then, it would avoid (another) confrontation between the government and the unions. It is not a question of giving in to all the whims of the workers, but of choosing the fights in a context where everyone is on edge.

This is hypothetical, but it is also possible that knowledge comes to validate the choice of N95 among teachers. Recall that at the start of the pandemic, Horacio Arruda had reserved N95 masks for health workers carrying out specific interventions generating aerosols. This order was challenged in court and the use of N95s eventually spread throughout the network.

It was in any case absurd to hear certain school service centers want to ban teachers from using the N95 masks that they procure themselves. In the office of the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, we were assured that a directive will be sent so that we respect the choice of these teachers. So much the better. They have every right to try to protect themselves with a certified mask.

Sending teachers to classrooms with surgical masks rather than N95 masks is not the heresy that some denounce, however.

The government’s decision is based on an 82-page report from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec which basically says this: in the laboratory, the N95 is superior to the surgical mask to protect those who wear it in a context at risk. . In the field, however, the gain is less clear – probably because the N95 is more uncomfortable, and therefore less well worn.

Almost all of the studies were carried out in healthcare settings, where the risk of contamination is high. The situation of the schools was not the subject of a specific analysis. Is the N95 useful in this context? For every expert who says yes, you will find one who says no.

To complicate matters, we could not, in principle, simply offer N95 masks at the entrance to schools. The CNESST requires the joint implementation of a “respiratory protection program”, involving in particular training and adjustment tests.

But that does not mean that these rules should be taken as gospel in the context of a crisis. Ontario is offering fit-free N95 masks to its teachers. This certainly diminishes their effectiveness. But apart from the famous “false sense of security” that is easy to counter with a minimum of education, the unfitted N95 is unlikely to be worse than the surgical mask.

Quebec argues that the N95s will be difficult to wear in class and will interfere with teaching. May be. But teachers are much better able to decide these questions than civil servants in an office. Personal preferences may vary.

In the current scientific uncertainty, letting teachers make the choices that seem to them the most enlightened seems the wisest option. And wouldn’t we have there a tremendous field experience likely to provide answers?