We are constantly told that we should follow "the science".  I looked up what exactly is data science?  According to Investopedia data science is:

a field of applied mathematics and statistics that provides useful information based on large amounts of complex data or big data.  Data science, or data-driven science, combines aspects of different fields with the aid of computation to interpret reams of data for decision-making purposes

That being determined let us look at the data that comes from Michigan schools that have mandated masks and others that did not mandate masks during this Covid-19 pandemic.  According to reporting by the Lansing State Journal, the numbers are very interesting, to say the least.  They compared Covid-19 positive cases at 20 school districts in and around mid-Michigan.

Since the numbers appear not to favor the mask mandate side, there are many people who are already attempting to put these numbers into their context.  For instance, they speak of some districts that do not have mask mandates, yet they believe there were students and staff who decided to wear masks.  Others speak of some schools with mandates but the children and staff did not wear the mask at all times or evenly “properly”. They even speak about not knowing the true number of students that contracted the virus outside of the school or even what the vaccination rate of the students and staff was.

I believe that most of the above concerns in the end probably cancel each other out to some extent.

What exactly are the numbers?  Here they are:

COVID case rates in districts with no mask mandate:  

  1. Ovid-Elsie Area Schools: 21%
  2. Charlotte Public Schools: 19%
  3. Pewamo-Westphalia Community Schools: 13%
  4. St. Johns Public Schools: 11%

COVID case rates in districts with mask mandate:  

  1. Bath Community Schools: 34%
  2. Stockbridge Community Schools: 32%
  3. Potterville Public Schools: 30%
  4. Leslie Public Schools: 28%
  5. DeWitt Public Schools: 20%
  6. Waverly Community Schools: 20%
  7. Webberville Community Schools: 20%
  8. Grand Ledge Public Schools: 17%
  9. Dansville Schools: 16%
  10. Mason Public Schools: 16%
  11. Okemos Public Schools: 15%
  12. East Lansing Public Schools: 14%
  13. Haslett Public Schools: 14%
  14. Williamston Community Schools: 14%
  15. Lansing School District: 13%
  16. Eaton Rapids Public Schools: 12%

It is very interesting to note that St. Johns Public Schools, without a mask mandate, had a Covid-19 case rate of 11%.  The lowest of all the school districts in which the data was reviewed.  Also, note that 4 of the 16 school districts reviewed that have mask mandates had a higher Covid-19 case rate than the 4 school districts that did not have mask mandates.

Did it surprise you to find that the school district with the worse Covid-19 case rate was one with a mask mandate?  In fact, the Bath Community Schools had a Covid-19 case rate 62% higher than Ovid-Elsie Area Schools, which had the highest Covid-19 case rate of the 4 schools that had no mask mandate.

Now that you know the numbers, you decide if masks actually work against the Covid-19 virus.

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