State Sent Untested, 'Nonmedical' Masks To MA Schools

MASSACHUSETTS — Gov. Charlie Baker was either lying or his administration was incompetent when it said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tested the 6 million masks it sent to school districts across the state, the head of the state's largest teachers union said.

“Very incorrect statements are being made by Gov. Baker and [Education] Commissioner [Jeffrey] Riley and their spokesperson,” Massachusetts Teachers Association President Merrie Najimy said during testimony to the state legislature's Joint Committee on Education Tuesday. “They are either deliberate lies or products of just incompetency because they do not now. They still don’t answer the question, were the not-medical grade masks that were distributed to schools actually tested?”

At a Monday morning news conference in Salem, Baker said MIT tested the masks and found them to be 85 percent effective. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued a statement Wednesday saying the "non-medical" masks had not been tested by MIT but were still "considered to be highly effective" at preventing infection.

Previously on Patch: State Sent Expired COVID Test Kits To Massachusetts Schools

Najimy told the legislative committee the state sent a set of "medical grade" masks to school districts and a second set of "substandard" nonmedical grade masks. In its statement, DESE confirmed Najimy's claim but noted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the most effective masks include two or more layers, a snug fit against the face and a nose wire to prevent air from exiting the top of the mask.

It was another setback for Baker, who has been adamant that the state will not allow schools to switch to hybrid or remote learning models during the current surge of coronavirus cases. On Tuesday, Patch reported some of the 200,000 coronavirus test kits DESE sent to Massachusetts schools last week were expired, while other districts were not sent enough kits for all their teachers and staff members to take two tests before schools reopened Monday.

Last week, state Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said the state was sending 200,000 rapid tests kits to school districts —enough for every staff member to take two tests before students returned from winter break on Monday. A delay in delivering the kits forced several school districts to delay opening or cancel classes Monday.

The Boston Teachers Union said Tuesday that some of its members had received kits that had expired in November. School officials told those members they could swap their kits for new tests on Wednesday, the union said. More than 1,000 Boston Public Schools teachers, staff members and bus drivers were out on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In some Massachusetts school systems, teachers and staff members had to share the two-test kits because the state did not send enough to their district.