NOTE:
This is a long article including lots of links to studies. I present just a few quotes as a summary. Two more mask articles follow, with no editing.
I read five mask studies in 2020. It was obvious masks were too porous to block very small viral aerosols. Including N95 masks. Even when fitted properly. If masks worked, the Covid pandemic would have lasted a few months. Certainly the people wearing them consistently would have been safe. Of course that did not happen. Masks are nothing more than virtue signaling. They have no medical purpose. They are also a visible display of obedience to government mandates. People who wear masks thinking they prevent Covid infections are Covidiots.
Ye Editor
"First, a primer on the levels of the different levels of quality of research and the “Hierarchy of evidence.” Not all studies are equal in their level of certainty or quality, but the absolute most reliable and most certainty we can get usually comes from Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Control Trials.
See the chart below from the Center for Evidence Based Medicine:
There is low certainty evidence from nine trials (3507 participants) that wearing a mask may make little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness (ILI) compared to not wearing a mask (risk ratio (RR) 0.99, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82 to”1.18.
There is moderate certainty evidence that wearing a mask probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza compared to not wearing a mask.”
Of course this research was collected in the “pre-Covid” era, so some would criticize it just for that reason.
However, as much as social media and government sources might want to claim otherwise, there is a boat load of published research on the ineffectiveness of mask mandates, cloth masks, and medical masks, and even mixed results on N95 masks.
There’s also a lot of published medical research on the harms and downsides of masks, particularly to children.
As far as the evidence for masking, there have been a lot of very bad “studies” that offered no control group or any comparison group at all that have been published during Covid to try to “prove” masks work (Not to mention the mechanistic studies performed in a lab with mannequins).
Perfect example would be the recent CDC Studies that were so poorly designed it was pathetic - you might hear people reference these. However, they are easily refutable. Here is a concise refutation from Dr Vinay Prasad on the CDC study, and you can find my previous post with my criticism of the Pediatrics Mask Study here:
https://relevantdata.substack.com/p/the-pediatrics-mask-study?s=w
Below you will find 10 papers (of more than 150) that describe the lack of effectiveness of Masks and Mask mandates, and 14 papers on the harms and potential harms of masks.
I hope these links and summaries can be a valuable reference. As we finally move past this massive psychological experiment, we should address the secondary effects that masks have had on our society, especially our children, and one day actually insist that our government and public health leaders commit to risk/benefit analysis instead of blindly following the urge to “do something.”
... Masking Emotions: Face Masks Impair How We Read Emotions
“The main insight of the present research is that face masks’ use influences emotion inference from faces for all ages and especially for toddlers.” Making pre-school children wear masks is bad public health
“In summary, the benefits of masking pre-school children are unclear but are probably too small to make a major difference to individuals risks from SARS-CoV-2 or epidemic control (even before considering variable likely compliance amongst toddlers).
In contrast, the harms of this policy are likely to be damaging, potentially considerably so. Given this, and the influence that the CDC and Dr Fauci have both in the US and globally, we believe an urgent re-consideration of this policy is needed”
Little evidence for facemask use in children against COVID-19
“Face masks also have potential disadvantages, such as hindering verbal and non-verbal communication. There is a risk that children will keep touching their masks and actually increase the viral load on their hands. Using face masks also risks replacing social distancing, as some parents may be tempted to send their children to school or daycare wearing a mask if they have minor symptoms rather than keeping them at home.
Finally, the commercially made masks that are currently available, especially the N95 masks that are said to offer greater protection, rarely fit children. Hence the use of such masks might lead to a false sense of safety, despite leaking viruses due to their poor fit. However, the most important drawback of face masks in children may well be that their use could reduce the focus from other measures that may be more important, such as hand washing, social distancing and staying at home when they are sick.”
Author Josh Stevenson lives in Nashville Tennessee and is a data visualization expert who focuses on creating easy to understand charts and dashboards with data. Throughout the pandemic, he has provided analysis to support local advocacy groups for in-person learning and other rational, data-driven covid policies. His background is in computer systems engineering & consulting, and his Bachelor’s degree is in Audio Engineering. His work can be found on his substack “Relevant Data.”
