New study finds mask mandate failed to reduce COVID deaths, hospitalizations, or cases

FEE's Jon Miltimore writes, "A new study published in the The Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) found that a county-wide mask order in Bexar County, Texas, did not lead to a reduction in COVID-19 hospitalization rates or deaths.

The study, which was peer reviewed, analyzed data before and after mandates were imposed at both the state level (July 3, 2020) and in Bexar County (July 5, 2020), Texas’s fourth largest county.

“The planners pretend that their plans are scientific and that there cannot be disagreement with regard to them among well-intentioned and decent people,” Mises wrote in his 1947 essay “Planned Chaos.”https://t.co/v4XWbUYwP3

— Jon Miltimore (@miltimore79) September 9, 2021

'We defined the control period as June 2 to July 2 and the postmask order period as July 8, 2020–August 12, 2020, with a 5-day gap to account for the median incubation period for cases; longer periods of 7 and 10 days were used for hospitalization and ICU admission/death, respectively,' the study authors wrote. 'Data were reported on a per-100,000 population basis using respective US Census Bureau–reported populations...'

'All of the measured outcomes were higher on average in the postmask period as were covariables included in the adjusted model,' the researchers said. 'There was no reduction in per-population daily mortality, hospital bed, ICU bed, or ventilator occupancy of COVID-19-positive patients attributable to the implementation of a mask-wearing mandate.”

Read the entire column here.