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Drs. Leslie Bienen, Jeanne Noble and Margery Smelkinson write at UnHerd (emphasis added), “This winter season, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Atlantic, among other outlets, have all published articles on the same theme. According to their advice, we should re-don masks to prevent seasonal spread of influenza, RSV, Covid-19 and run-of-the-mill colds. This seems poised to become a yearly occurrence, as with the accompanying post-holiday mandates in some schools, colleges, and elsewhere that these articles actively encourage.
However, while these articles are full of quotations from health officials and disease experts, glaringly absent is high-quality data to support claims that masking reduces spread of circulating seasonal viruses.
If the evidence on the efficacy of masking to stop covid spread were strong, no mandate would be necessary. The evidence would be persuasive on its own. The reason why the @CDCgov wants the power to mandate is _because_ the evidence is weak. https://t.co/wmURd3jA7W — Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) January 18, 2023
If the evidence on the efficacy of masking to stop covid spread were strong, no mandate would be necessary. The evidence would be persuasive on its own. The reason why the @CDCgov wants the power to mandate is _because_ the evidence is weak. https://t.co/wmURd3jA7W
The reason for this omission may be that, three years into the pandemic, there are no rigorous studies showing masks to be an effective method of viral infection control. In fact the highest-quality scientific studies, randomised controlled trials (RCTs), show the opposite: that masks make little to no difference in controlling spread of influenza, SARS-CoV-2, or RSV.
In May 2020, the CDC summarised data from 14 RCTs as failing to show a significant benefit of masks in reducing transmission of influenza. An analysis of nine trials conducted by Cochrane, an organisation that conducts large reviews of health-care interventions, reached similar conclusions in November 2020. Studies of masking to prevent common colds and RSV also had negative results."
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