Researchers say there are “harmful unintended consequences” for mask wearers.
QUICK FACTS:
- The peer-reviewed study,“Correlation Between Mask Compliance and COVID-19 Outcomes in Europe,” Published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science on April 19th, 2022 analyzed the correlation between mask usage morbidity and mortality rates in the 2020-2021 winter in Europe.
- “Data from 35 European countries on morbidity, mortality, and mask usage during a six-month period were analyzed and crossed,” according to the study’s overview, which indicated that it encompassed a total of 602 million people.
- In addition to not finding any benefit to mask-wearing in suppressing the spread of COVID-19 the paper found that there was a “positive correlation” between the use of masks and COVID-19 deaths, as The National Pulse reported.
- “Countries with high levels of mask compliance did not perform better than those with low mask usage,” found a new study, whose data and analysis instead discovered a “moderate positive correlation between mask usage and deaths.”
MORE FINDINGS ABOUT MASK-WEARING & COVID-19 DEATHS:
- “The findings presented in this short communication suggest that countries with high levels of mask compliance did not perform better than those with low mask usage in the six-month period that encompassed the second European wave of COVID-19,” author Beny Spira summarized.
- “The lack of negative correlations between mask usage and COVID-19 cases and deaths suggest that the widespread use of masks at a time when an effective intervention was most needed, i.e., during the strong 2020-2021 autumn-winter peak, was not able to reduce COVID-19 transmission,” Spira went on to say.
- “Moreover, the moderate positive correlation between mask usage and deaths in Western Europe also suggests that the universal use of masks may have had harmful unintended consequences.”
BACKGROUND:
- The study’s author readily admitted that outside influences could be partially to blame saying that “the rise in infection levels prompted mask usage resulting in higher levels of masking in countries with already higher transmission rates.”
- However, he also contended that “While this assertion is certainly true for some countries, several others with high infection rates, such as France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain had strict mask mandates in place since the first semester of 2020. In addition, during the six-month period covered by this study, all countries underwent a peak in COVID-19 infections … thus all of them endured similar pressures that might have potentially influenced the level of mask usage.”
- The report was released around the same time as the White House promised to fight to reinstate the recently overturned Federal Transportioant Administration mask mandate.
