As some parents send their kids to school in masks, others agonize over sending them at all

As tens of thousands of London area students head back to school this fall, parents are psychologically preparing their kids for a return to class where face masks will be as common as glue sticks and pencil crayons. 

To help limit the potential spread of the coronavirus, students from Junior Kindergarten to grade 12 will be required to wear masks indoors, including in the hallways and in class. 

"It's impossible," said Abdurrahman Murad, the father of three girls, all under the age of eight. "Honestly, there is no way. My kids, they might put it on as a fashion for a few seconds and then pull it off because it's hot, it's difficult to breathe, because of that they're not going to wear masks. You can't expect a kid to wear one."

It's why Murad has decided to keep his two eldest daughters, Mariam, seven and Maria, five, at home in favour of online classes, rather than send them to school and risk bringing the virus home to his wife, who is immunocompromised. 

"The fear is there that they'll get something from the school," he said. "The kids could become infected and they can bring it back home."

Harder for kids with sensory issues to adjust

There are concerns that when schools reopen, there could be new outbreaks of the virus. Protocols, which range from sending select students home to shutting down entire schools have been recently drawn up by the province in order to soothe widespread fears of returning to class. 

Some of those fears might be misplaced, since there is little scientific evidence that young children are efficient spreaders of the coronavirus. Toronto's Sick Kids hospital put out a position statement in July, saying children younger than 10 are less likely to transmit the disease to adults and, even when they are sick, show little to no symptoms of COVID-19. 

It's for that reason the World Health Organization recommends older children, aged 12 and above, wear masks at the same frequency as adults, while kids six to 11 wear masks under certain criteria, and kids under five shouldn't wear masks at all. 

In London area schools, children in all grades will be required to wear masks, which could be a difficult transition. Many adults have grown used to wearing a mask in public, but it can be hard for children to adjust, especially for those with sensory issues. 

"It's harder for Owen to wear a mask just due to his disabilities. For Olivia, she's pretty good. She's a little bit concerned about wearing a mask all day, every day," said Deanna Sharpe, whose children Owen, 7 and Olivia, 10, will both be going to school in September.

"For me, as a parent, I would honestly like to know how they're going to keep it on all day and how it's going to be clean," she said. "Being in a school yard and it getting dirty and other kids touching it, potentially other kids sharing masks because they like that one over theirs. I think that's the biggest concern."

"Yeah, definitely," said her husband, Jason Sharpe. "We try to tell them that it's important, that wearing a mask helps protect you and helps protect others."   

Unlike many parents, the Sharpes said they aren't too anxious about the return to school despite a pandemic that's still spreading around the globe along with a brand new flu season on the horizon this fall. 

"Looking at the numbers, looking at the statistics, those who have it, a lot of people recover from it. I understand there are a lot of people who get sick, some people who get very sick and die, but the vast majority of people do get better," Jason Sharpe said.

"The risk is out there, but looking at the numbers and looking at the numbers in this area, it's so low. Those who are healthy generally recover, that's the belief that we have."