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Try this one, from a thoughtful MD who tries to follow the science: https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/11/19/covid-19-new-evidence-on-face-masks/ https://seba

Try this one, from a thoughtful MD who tries to follow the science: https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/11/19/covid-19-new-evidence-on-face-masks/ https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/11/19/covid-19-new-evide...

judahmeek 5y ago
Except the intervention in study Rushworth cites wasn't a mask mandate. It was "Encouragement to follow social distancing measures for coronavirus disease 2019, plus either no mask recommendation or a recommendation to wear a mask when outside the home among other persons together with a supply of 50 surgical masks and instructions for proper use." According to https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817 https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817, the website for said study: "A systematic review of observational studies reported that mask use reduced risk for SARS, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and COVID-19 by 66% overall, 70% in health care workers, and 44% in the community" So masks themselves are effective, but only when people actually use them correctly.
- wrycoder 5y ago
  According to the conclusion of the paper you just referenced, Our results suggest that the recommendation to wear a surgical mask when outside the home among others did not reduce, at conventional levels of statistical significance, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in mask wearers in a setting where social distancing and other public health measures were in effect, mask recommendations were not among those measures, and community use of masks was uncommon. Yet, the findings were inconclusive and cannot definitively exclude a 46% reduction to a 23% increase in infection of mask wearers in such a setting. It is important to emphasize that this trial did not address the effects of masks as source control or as protection in settings where social distancing and other public health measures are not in effect.

judahmeek 5y ago

Except the intervention in study Rushworth cites wasn't a mask mandate. It was "Encouragement to follow social distancing measures for coronavirus disease 2019, plus either no mask recommendation or a recommendation to wear a mask when outside the home among other persons together with a supply of 50 surgical masks and instructions for proper use." According to https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817 https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817, the website for said study: "A systematic review of observational studies reported that mask use reduced risk for SARS, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and COVID-19 by 66% overall, 70% in health care workers, and 44% in the community" So masks themselves are effective, but only when people actually use them correctly.

wrycoder 5y ago
According to the conclusion of the paper you just referenced, Our results suggest that the recommendation to wear a surgical mask when outside the home among others did not reduce, at conventional levels of statistical significance, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in mask wearers in a setting where social distancing and other public health measures were in effect, mask recommendations were not among those measures, and community use of masks was uncommon. Yet, the findings were inconclusive and cannot definitively exclude a 46% reduction to a 23% increase in infection of mask wearers in such a setting. It is important to emphasize that this trial did not address the effects of masks as source control or as protection in settings where social distancing and other public health measures are not in effect.