Education Secretary touts mask study—gets rebuked by senior author of the study

FEE’s Jon Miltimore writes, “On Monday, US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona touted new academic research to show that masks have been effective at reducing the spread of COVID-19 in schools…

Cardona’s tweet caught the attention of Tracy Beth Høeg, an epidemiologist and physician resident at the University of California-Davis, who worked on the study cited by Cardona.

⁦@SecCardona⁩ claims WI study proves masks in schools work. Physician author of study says study proves no such thing.

Education Secretary Touts Mask Study—Gets Rebuked by Senior Author of the Study - Foundation for Economic Education https://t.co/RWBQ1Cn383 — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 3, 2021

'Secretary Cardona, I was the senior author of this study,' Høeg replied. 'Our study is not able to give any information about the role masks played in the observed low in-school transmission rates. We had no control group so [we] don't know if the rate would have been different without masks.'

Cardona had not responded to Høeg’s reply as of Thursday afternoon."

Read the entire column.