New Study Shows Masks Have Minimal Effect on COVID-19 Infection Rates

Masks make “little to no difference,” according to the study.

QUICK FACTS:

• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews published a study suggesting wearing a mask “probably makes little to no difference” in flu or Covid-19 related infections.
• The study was conducted by researchers from the U.K., Canada, Australia, Italy, and Saudi Arabia and sought to compare infection rates of those wearing surgical masks versus no masks.
• Cochrane added 11 “cluster-RCTs,” or randomized groups to be studied rather than individuals as an update to its study from 2020.
• In 2021, Instagram alleged that Cochrane’s study spread “misinformation” regarding the pandemic, as the findings conflicted with official mainstream narratives.
• Several of the groups included subjects from Mexico, England, Norway, Denmark, and Bangladesh.
• “Wearing N95/P2 respirators probably makes little to no difference” in the number of people with flu cases, according to the study.

Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness (ILI)/COVID‐19 like illness compared to not wearing masks (risk ratio (RR) 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84 to 1.09; 9 trials, 276,917 participants

— Carl Heneghan (@carlheneghan) January 30, 2023

CURRENT MASK RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Following the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended government officials “encourage or mandate” mask mandates.
• HHS said masks would help prevent “long COVID.”
• New York City Democrat Mayor Eric Adams urged his constituents to “Mask up, get tested, get treated if you’re eligible, and, if you haven’t gotten your flu shot or your COVID-19 booster, we encourage you to roll up your sleeve” during the recent holidays.
• Schools in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania required students to wear masks upon their return to classes following Christmas break.

BACKGROUND:

• American Faith reported that mask mandates caused almost 50% more deaths than no mask mandates.
• The study asserting that mask mandates signified a “debatable epidemiologic intervention” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Medicine and focused on findings from Kansas.
• Counties in Kansas with mask mandates had “significantly higher case fatality rates” than counties without mask mandates, according to the study.
• Masks worsen illness via the “Foegen effect,” that “deep re-inhalation of hypercondensed droplets” present in facemasks “can worsen prognosis and might be linked to long-term effects of COVID-19 infection.”

Health Department Recommends Mask Mandates to Fight ‘Long COVID’

‘Mask Mandates Actually Caused About 1.5 Times the Number of Deaths or ∼50% More Deaths Compared to No Mask Mandates’: Peer-Reviewed Medical Journal