5 ms·

Here is the paper (or one of them, it is not clear after so many links): https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/Mask_RCT____Symptomati

by cfn 5y ago

Here is the paper (or one of them, it is not clear after so many links): https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/Mask_RCT____Symptomatic_Seropositivity_083121.pdf https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publicati... Bottom line: "The proportion of individuals with COVID-like symptoms was 7.62% (N=13,273) in the intervention arm and 8.62% (N=13,893) in the control arm. Blood samples were collected from N=10,952 consenting, symptomatic individuals. Adjusting for baseline covariates, the 2 intervention reduced symptomatic seroprevalence by 9.3% (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) = 0.91 [0.82, 1.00]; control prevalence 0.76%; treatment prevalence 0.68%). In villages randomized to surgical masks (n = 200), the relative reduction was 11.2% overall (aPR = 0.89 [0.78, 1.00]) and 34.7% among individuals 60+ (aPR = 0.65 [0.46, 0.85]). No adverse events were reported."

treis 5y ago
This is a pretty modest impact, a short duration, and is somewhat clouded by it not being a double blind study. The rate of infection at 7.62% vs 8.62% are particularly troublesome. As a comparison, it's estimated that 1/3-1/2 of Americans have been infected with Covid. It's an open question of what the end game would be. Could be that both groups would end at the same infection rate. The masked group might just take longer to get there.
- numbsafari 5y ago
  > The masked group might just take longer to get there. That's not a bad thing. Remember "flatten the curve"? Avoiding everyone from getting it isn't the goal. Preventing the collapse of the healthcare system is.
  - gotoeleven 5y ago
    We are now into month 17 of two weeks to flatten the curve. Even in the height of the initial wave hospitals were mostly not overwhelmed. Remember the field hospitals and hospital ships that sat empty in New York City?
    - numbsafari 5y ago
      Yes. We just stopped caring. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210906-in-covid-swamped-texas-patients-die-stranded-in-rural-clinics https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210906-in-covid-swam...
  - treis 5y ago
    >That's not a bad thing. Remember "flatten the curve"? That isn't how exponential growth works unfortunately. As long as the exponent is greater than 1 eventually you will get a large peak.
    - teddyh 5y ago
      Only if a population is infinite.
- jasonlaramburu 5y ago
  How could you possibly construct a double blind study on masks?
hamburgerwah 5y ago
Study is worthless. They did not have the means or funds to properly census the body of people involved, they only took blood samples from consenting symptomatic people and they were highly preselective in choosing the regions they included to achieve the outcome they sought.

by cfn 5y ago

treis 5y ago

This is a pretty modest impact, a short duration, and is somewhat clouded by it not being a double blind study. The rate of infection at 7.62% vs 8.62% are particularly troublesome. As a comparison, it's estimated that 1/3-1/2 of Americans have been infected with Covid. It's an open question of what the end game would be. Could be that both groups would end at the same infection rate. The masked group might just take longer to get there.

numbsafari 5y ago
> The masked group might just take longer to get there. That's not a bad thing. Remember "flatten the curve"? Avoiding everyone from getting it isn't the goal. Preventing the collapse of the healthcare system is.
- gotoeleven 5y ago
  We are now into month 17 of two weeks to flatten the curve. Even in the height of the initial wave hospitals were mostly not overwhelmed. Remember the field hospitals and hospital ships that sat empty in New York City?
  - numbsafari 5y ago
    Yes. We just stopped caring. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210906-in-covid-swamped-texas-patients-die-stranded-in-rural-clinics https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210906-in-covid-swam...
- treis 5y ago
  >That's not a bad thing. Remember "flatten the curve"? That isn't how exponential growth works unfortunately. As long as the exponent is greater than 1 eventually you will get a large peak.
  - teddyh 5y ago
    Only if a population is infinite.
jasonlaramburu 5y ago
How could you possibly construct a double blind study on masks?

hamburgerwah 5y ago

Study is worthless. They did not have the means or funds to properly census the body of people involved, they only took blood samples from consenting symptomatic people and they were highly preselective in choosing the regions they included to achieve the outcome they sought.