A fact-finding investigation from Kaiser Health News / PolitiFact says the claim that it’s time to get back to normal is false.

“This is what science is telling everyone who is honest about it: open the schools, stop wearing masks outside and everyone at low risk should start living a normal life. Not next fall, or next year – now, ”reads the blog post posted to Facebook on February 8.

KHN-PolitiFact messaged Sexton via his Facebook page asking if he could provide evidence to support the statement, but received no response.

So we looked at the scientific evidence and talked to public health experts about Sexton’s post. In general, they disagreed and pointed out the ways in which it contradicts current public health strategies.

Let’s take it point by point.

‘Opening of the schools’

In March, when government and public health leaders realized that the new coronavirus was spreading through the US, many public institutions – including schools – were ordered to shut down to prevent further spread. Large numbers of students have completed the spring semester 2020 remotely. Some jurisdictions chose to reopen schools in the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021, although others have remained remote.

During the pandemic, researchers investigated whether personal learning in schools contributed significantly to the spread of COVID-19. The findings have shown that if K-12 schools adhere to mitigating measures – masking, taking physical distance and washing hands frequently – there is a relatively low risk of transmission.

Here are some of the latest research that follows on these positions:

• Only seven COVID-19 cases out of 191 were traced back to school dissemination in 17 rural K-12 Wisconsin schools that had high mask-wearing compliance and were monitored during the fall semester of 2020.
• Mississippi researchers found that most of the coronavirus in children and teens was related to gatherings outside of the household and a lack of consistent mask use in schools, but not just attending school or daycare.
• Thirty-two cases were related to school attendance of the 100,000 students and staff of 11 schools in North Carolina, where students were required to wear masks, practice distance physical exercise, and wash their hands often.

Of course, there are some limitations to these studies, which often rely on the tracing of contacts, a process that cannot always identify where cases come from. Some studies are also based on self-reporting of individuals wearing masks, which may be inaccurate.

In addition, Hassig pointed out that not all school districts have the resources, such as physical space, staff, or high-quality masks, to open safely.

Sexton’s claim that schools can reopen omits an important piece of information: that safe reopening is highly dependent on the use of mitigating measures that have been shown to prevent the spread of viruses.

‘Stop wearing masks outside’

Because the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is relatively new, research into outdoor mask use is limited. But so far, science has shown that masks prevent the transmission of viruses.

Sexton’s post, however, advised people to stop wearing masks outside. Certainly, public health experts agree that the risk of coronavirus transmission outdoors is lower than indoors. But the experts also said this doesn’t mean people should stop wearing masks.

In general, the prevailing scientific opinion is that while it may be okay to go out without a mask when you are physically distant from others, wearing a mask is still recommended when you are around others.

‘Everyone with a low risk should start living a normal life’

All of the public health experts we consulted agreed that this part of the claim is absolutely false. It goes against what scientists are recommending for getting through the pandemic.

While it is unclear what exactly the message means to low-risk people, let’s assume it refers to younger people or those with no health problems that make them more vulnerable to COVID-19. And that ‘living a normal life’ refers to no longer wearing masks, taking physical distance or washing hands more and more.

Even if a person at low risk does not become seriously ill, they can still infect others in higher risk groups.

“Anyone going back to ‘normal’ now, especially in the presence of more transmittable and deadlier variants, would be a recipe for further public health disasters on top of what we’ve already experienced,” he added.

The push to “ return to normal ” is exactly what made the new variants form and multiply, Vreeman said. “If we can speed up the vaccination of people while continuing to wear masks, we only have a chance to get back to ‘normal’.”

Indeed, because of the new variants circulating in the US, Walensky and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged Americans not to relax their efforts to control the spread of the virus.

A blog post by conservative talk show host Buck Sexton claims that scientific evidence shows that at this point we “need to open the schools, stop wearing masks outside of masks and let everyone at low risk lead a normal life”.

Scientific research shows that in order for schools to reopen safely, risk mitigation measures must be taken, such as making masks mandatory, thorough washing of hands and limiting the number of students in classrooms. However, these changes would not mean a return to normal, but a new normal for students and teachers.

The rest of Sexton’s statement deviates further from current science. Research indicates you’re safer outdoors than indoors, but public health experts still recommend wearing masks in public, even outdoors. Science doesn’t support the idea that the time is right for some people to resume life as usual. That would allow the virus to continue to spread and incur high human costs in hospital admissions and deaths, the experts said.

Sexton’s message is incorrect. We judge it as false.