Despite new research, NC lawmakers try again to ban school mask mandates

GOP leaders moved ahead with the vote despite a new study from the ABC Science Collaborative showing school mask requirements reduced in-school COVID-19 transmission by 87%.

"What's unique about these data is that it's really the first to be a large study in the United States with a comparison group. Both masking districts and not-masking districts participated," said collaborative co-chairman Dr. Danny Benjamin. "And it was over the course of the Delta wave and the introduction of Omicron."

Benjamin, a professor of pediatrics at Duke, said the group has added a calculator to its site to help school leaders predict how many more cases of COVID-19 they can expect if masking is optional.

"In times of high transmission, or times when maybe we have a variant that escapes immunity, or if we've got a variant that escapes vaccination, or a higher mortality rate, schools can then look at our data on the decision on whether or not it's best for them to mask," he said.

Republican legislative leaders have said they don't believe cloth masks, which students most commonly wear, are protective against the omicron or delta variants of COVID-19. But Benjamin said the new study clearly shows even cloth masks helped reduce transmission.

Benjamin declined to comment on the bill banning school mask mandates, but added, "When you're in an environment where lots of people congregate, and you've got aspects of unpredictability as it relates to transmission, flexibility—whether it's schools or other entities in the community—flexibility in your approach is typically a good thing to have."

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, pointed out that just a year ago, Senate leader Phil Berger lauded the ABC Science Collaborative as the top researchers on school safety.

"It defies science to me in that the body that has been hailed by the Republican majority now is not being followed in a critical study that just came out," Chaudhuri told WRAL News.

Senate Republicans hold 28 seats, but needed 30 votes for a veto override. Chaudhuri, the Democratic whip, said he was confident Senate Dems would uphold the veto.

"The fact that we don't have a statewide mask mandate, but we're voting on a bill that relates to mask mandates to me illustrates that this is Republicans who are politicizing masks in an effort to get ready for the 2022 election," Chaudhuri said.