According to a new scientific review — led by 12 researchers from esteemed universities around the world —masking may have had little to do with stopping the spread of COVID-19.
From Fox News:
Published by Cochrane Library, the review dug into the findings of 78 randomized controlled trials to determine whether “physical interventions” — including face masks and hand-washing — lessened the spread of respiratory viruses.
When comparing the use of medical/surgical masks to wearing no masks, the review found that “wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness/COVID-like illness (nine studies; 276,917 people); and probably makes little or no difference in how many people have flu/COVID confirmed by a laboratory test (six studies; 13,919 people).”
Next, the review compared medical/surgical masks to N95 respirators (or P2 respirators, which are used in Europe).
It found that “wearing N95/P2 respirators probably makes little to no difference in how many people have confirmed flu (five studies; 8407 people); and may make little to no difference in how many people catch a flu-like illness (five studies; 8407 people), or respiratory illness (three studies; 7799 people).”
…
The study authors did admit to some limitations and a risk of bias, including the low number of people who followed mask guidance and the wide variation of outcomes.
“The results might change when further evidence becomes available,” they wrote.
Masking —especially mandatory masking —was a huge point of contention during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the CDC failing to provide clear, consistent guidance on the measure.
More over at Fox News:
Face masks made ‘little to no difference’ in spread of COVID, scientific review finds https://t.co/9H4wydxWJH
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 14, 2023
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