Masking will be a key strategy in returning to school safely amid the continued presence of COVID-19 and its delta variant, said a pair of Duke University pediatrics professors who also stressed the importance of enforcing and adhering to mask policies. Dr. Danny Benjamin, chair of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Developmentâs Pediatric Trials Network, compared enforcing mask-wearing in schools to giving a child medicine to treat strep throat. âIt will do you no good if you pour it into the childâs mouth and the child promptly spits it out,â he said in a Duke University-hosted media briefing Wednesday on navigating the return to school. âI prescribed amoxicillin, but itâs not going to solve your problem, and the same thing is I think what we are going to see if school districts struggle a little bit with some increased clusters and some secondary transmission.â