The current government decision provides that as of January 4, all pupils should wear face masks inside and outside classrooms while at school. Just two days after this decision, more than 19,000 signatures had been collected on the portal Manabalss.lv and an initiative has already been submitted to the Saeima to cancel the government's decision to ask all pupils to wear mouth and nose covers.
GP Skruze-Janava said that there was no scientific justification that masks could impair pupils' health. Masks do not interfere with oxygen circulation and cannot accumulate so much carbon dioxide that it would be harmful to the body, said the doctor.
But the number of signatures collected on the portal Manabalss.lv to cancel the requirement for masks suggests a huge amount of disinformation in society. She also criticized the Manabalss.lv platform makers for allowing to launch such an initiative.
The doctor also rejected claims that children were unable to wear masks. She said that children copy parents' actions and emotions, and if parents perceive masks as self-evident and show and tell children how to use them, children will be happy to use masks.
She stressed that the masks should be used correctly, hands should be washed before and after wearing the mask, masks cannot be simply put in the pocket and used for several days.
