Face masks made ‘little to no difference’ in preventing spread of COVID, scientific review finds

they slow it some in some circumstances, they do not stop it

 

One might think this to be true, but that conclusion is not consistent with all the data accumulated between 1947 and 2020, and there was a lot of testing.

 

disagree, covering the mouth when sneezing helps even

 

People already commonly cover their mouths when they sneeze so the mask did nothing. Masking was genuinely useless and ineffective. It was only ever a tribal mark, nothing more.

 

Yup. It's simply liberals continuing their long party history of wearing a mask in order to make a political statement.

 

There have been over 10 double blind clinical studies conducted over the last 70+ years prior to C19 designed to discover ways to prevent the spread of viruses. They all concluded that there is no statistically significant evidence that face masks reduce the spread.


“Face Masks

In our systematic review, we identified 10 RCTs that reported estimates of the effectiveness of face masks in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infections in the community from literature published during 1946–July 27, 2018. In pooled analysis, we found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.51–1.20; I2 = 30%, p = 0.25) (Figure 2). One study evaluated the use of masks among pilgrims from Australia during the Hajj pilgrimage and reported no major difference in the risk for laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection in the control or mask group (33). Two studies in university settings assessed the effectiveness of face masks for primary protection by monitoring the incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza among student hall residents for 5 months (9,10). The overall reduction in ILI or laboratory-confirmed influenza cases in the face mask group was not significant in either studies (9,10).”
Volume 26, Number 5—May 2020, Policy Review, Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings—Personal Protective and Environmental Measures, Jingyi Xiao1, Eunice Y. C. Shiu1, Huizhi Gao, Jessica Y. Wong, Min W. Fong, Sukhyun Ryu, and Benjamin J. Cowling, Author affiliations: University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article


Hence Fauci's statements admitting that masks are useless.

So, are the experts credible - or not?
Or are they only credible when they agree with you.

 

preventing water droplets from the sneeze of an infected person helps in some instances, but it won't stop the spread

even the face mask wearers will eventually get the virus, that is true

 

What about those uninfected? The mask is a means of social control.

 

the mask protects others from the infected, and as people did not know if they were infected, we wore it to protect others as much as we could, to slow the spread a little to reduce the load on hospitals

 

Some masks may stop bacteria and they can certainly remove some air pollution. Probably a good idea for people with sensitive lungs.

"The overall reduction in ILI or laboratory-confirmed influenza cases in the face mask group was not significant in either studies (9,10).”
Volume 26, Number 5—May 2020, Policy Review, Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings—Personal Protective and Environmental Measures, Jingyi Xiao1, Eunice Y. C. Shiu1, Huizhi Gao, Jessica Y. Wong, Min W. Fong, Sukhyun Ryu, and Benjamin J. Cowling, Author affiliations: University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article

Useless against viruses, but people should be free to wear masks -- especially in an age of mass surveillance.

 

eventually everyone will catch it, mask or not, unless totally isolated, but the goal was to reduce the load on hospitals

where I lived, we only wore them when the hospitalizations were on the rise

 

if the government wants people to wear masks, tell them they can't wear masks as they can't track them

 

Anti-mask laws have been imposed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-mask_law

 

Also, a great way to announce to the world that you are scared to death of EVERYTHING.

And that you are a person who refuses to think for themselves, and is hoping the "authorities" will take care of me by telling me what's best for me.

Of course, that could well be that Prince from Nigeria who responds.

 

Who are you responding to? I am not sure. All I know is and I will take the opportunity if it was Fresh Air who was the last to make comments I debated him on a specific point he made but am the first to defend his views I was just debating specific points, and I do not recall him ever telling people to be afraid or feed into fear or he was afraid of anything nor is Fresh Air a blind supporter of government policies. Wrong person.

Fresh Air made some very accurate observations namely even we mask supporters acknowledge masks were not a panacea or a full proof device and were just one of many tools we were asked to consider and I very much agree with him and MuchADo for different reasons but the same reasons as well. What we all know is wearing a mask most certainly did have a beneficial psychological impact on specific people who would have otherwise had negative reactions. It had an impact on me. I never thought it was full proof but it reminded me not to breath or sneeze on people, keep a distance, and if nothing else symbolically reminded others and me we were respecting each other. Was it based on fear? Maybe for some-for me it was based on showing I cared for others not just myself especially vulnerable people with chronic illnesses or front line people or seniors.

Sorry I miss what you are saying. Conspiracy theories that distrust public health officials often are based on fear which is fueled by ignorance. No one who defends pandemic prevention policies promotes blind obedience to government but we also do not fear science and doctors and no I do not think my pharmacist and physicians and nurses who treated me are involved in some sort of conspiracy with big pharma and governments.

I believe that kind of conspiracy tale is an attempt by people afraid of illness, disease and anything they feel they have no control over to create a new religion, a new non scientific, subjective, faith based system to make things easy to understand and explainable with beginnings and endings and anything bad made by humans and so capable of being ended by humans.

Zoonotic virus processes are exasperated by unhygienic human practices when handling meat of dead animals but they like fungi, bacteria and other viruses are part of our ecosphere and life. Humans make them worse by ignoring rules of nature but we certainly can not prevent them.

We humans were given an ability to think, observe and use rational thought process including scientific methodology if we choose to manage disease and illness not make it end. All illnesses mutate. All life forms mutate and change in extent, body and nature.

Your fear of government does not mean people who work with and understand science are blindly obedient on government. Science actually evolved to question and offer an alternative to faith based (blind obedience) and to challenge government policies that were based on religious biases imposed on people.

History is full of examples of scientists referred to as evil heathen and anti God Satanists etc.

Today if anything science, specifically quantitative physics and mystical concepts of the possible origins of life no longer contradict but inter-connect.

 

I rather like the Andrea Dworkin definition:

“If you want a definition of what a coward is, it’s needing to push a whole class of people down so that you can walk on top of them.”

 

What? Psychological benefits?

 

That’s not difficult. A lot of people felt really scared and vulnerable during the pandemic. Doing things to protect oneself provided a psychological benefit.

 

It does seem the fanatic maskers have deep psychological problems. I admit I never got the fear that people claimed to have about this.

 

Are you trying to suggest that people who wear masks are scared to death of EVERYTHING. That is ridiculous. People who wear masks don’t want to infect others or get infected. Are you going to accuse people who wear seatbelts of the same thing.

Most intelligent people think things through. Like if I wear a mask will I get infected or could it decrease the chance of getting infected. It doesn’t matter what the authorities say, it’s a personal choice. My choice — during the pandemic — I will wear a mask when I’m out shopping. I will not wear a mask at home. Your comments aren’t reasoned out at all.

 

What is a ‘fanatic’ mask wearer? Most people that feared getting infected were those that were vulnerable. Were you in the vulnerable category? 99% of the population had nothing to fear, but that 99% needed to protect the 1% that needed protection but many selfish basturdilies couldn’t see that. Selfish much?

 

I hope you get the help you need.

 

What help do I need? That’’s a stupid comment. I was constantly exposed to people with covid in the hospital setting. I get why it’s important to wear a mask during a pandemic. You just seem to be an ignorant moron when it comes to mask issues. I wore a mask and didn’t get covid. I got covid in my home when my child who had covid coughed in my face. Masks work. You are a ****. Shut up. Report me, I could give 0 ****s.

 

Why do you hate science?

 

Science shows masks work. Cognitive bias much?