4 ms·

Anyone have a link to the actual paper? Compare this with: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full https://www.cochranelib

by zdw 2y ago

Anyone have a link to the actual paper? Compare this with: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD... which states "The pooled results of RCTs did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks." Anyone have a good insight on which has a more accurate methodology? FWIW, I've been of the opinion that masks help (obviously they do something), so I'm inclined to doubt the link I gave above.

cinntaile 2y ago
They're not the same type of masks. N95 is a higher class than surgical masks.
ceejayoz 2y ago
"medical/surgical/procedure masks" are the blue/yellow loosely fitting ones; non-N95. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_mask https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_mask
lesuorac 2y ago
Afaik, this is an apples-to-oranges type thing. Cochrane's analysis is that they can't say if masks are effective or not. It's not evidence of harm or helpfulness. A similar way to think about this is if I show you a coin and ask you if it's weighted? You don't have enough information to make a determination (perhaps if I flip it a bunch of times you can claim one way but that's not part of the question/data). I didn't run any statistical analysis on their tables but given that their "Viral respiratory illness ‐ influenza/COVID‐like illness" for No Masks is 160/1000 while "Viral respiratory illness ‐ influenza‐like illness" for Masks is 50/1000 I'm guessing masks do have an effect but the amount of samples in their data is not enough to demonstrate it. Where the oranges come from is the UMD paper is studying how many viruses appear in a plague doctor's mask [1] which is obviously different than how many individuals get sick (apples). [1]: https://sph.umd.edu/sites/default/files/styles/optimized/public/2020-12/PHAB-Lab.jpg?itok=flPZtUjK https://sph.umd.edu/sites/default/files/styles/optimized/pub...
cameldrv 2y ago
Actual paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396424001920 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235239642...
n8henrie 2y ago
Sibling commenters also need to read the section on N95s in this same systematic review: > The use of a N95/P2 respirators compared to medical/surgical masks probably makes little or no difference for the objective and more precise outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza infection (RR 1.10, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.34; 5 trials, 8407 participants; moderate‐certainty evidence).
aredox 2y ago
The mediocre Cochrane review continues to damage actual results around masks. See to my other comment[0] where I collated a few responses to Cochrane. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40658089 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40658089

by zdw 2y ago

cinntaile 2y ago

They're not the same type of masks. N95 is a higher class than surgical masks.

ceejayoz 2y ago

"medical/surgical/procedure masks" are the blue/yellow loosely fitting ones; non-N95. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_mask https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_mask

lesuorac 2y ago

Afaik, this is an apples-to-oranges type thing. Cochrane's analysis is that they can't say if masks are effective or not. It's not evidence of harm or helpfulness. A similar way to think about this is if I show you a coin and ask you if it's weighted? You don't have enough information to make a determination (perhaps if I flip it a bunch of times you can claim one way but that's not part of the question/data). I didn't run any statistical analysis on their tables but given that their "Viral respiratory illness ‐ influenza/COVID‐like illness" for No Masks is 160/1000 while "Viral respiratory illness ‐ influenza‐like illness" for Masks is 50/1000 I'm guessing masks do have an effect but the amount of samples in their data is not enough to demonstrate it. Where the oranges come from is the UMD paper is studying how many viruses appear in a plague doctor's mask [1] which is obviously different than how many individuals get sick (apples). [1]: https://sph.umd.edu/sites/default/files/styles/optimized/public/2020-12/PHAB-Lab.jpg?itok=flPZtUjK https://sph.umd.edu/sites/default/files/styles/optimized/pub...

cameldrv 2y ago

Actual paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396424001920 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235239642...

n8henrie 2y ago

Sibling commenters also need to read the section on N95s in this same systematic review: > The use of a N95/P2 respirators compared to medical/surgical masks probably makes little or no difference for the objective and more precise outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza infection (RR 1.10, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.34; 5 trials, 8407 participants; moderate‐certainty evidence).

aredox 2y ago

The mediocre Cochrane review continues to damage actual results around masks. See to my other comment[0] where I collated a few responses to Cochrane. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40658089 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40658089