78 Studies Show: Very Little Evidence that Masking Works
78 Studies Show: Very Little Evidence that Masking Works
The Cochrane Review is out. The verdict on masking is...
The Cochrane Review poured over 78 mask studies and concluded there was little to no evidence that facemasks provide any efficacy against viral transmission.
First, a note about the Cochrane Review (in their own words):
The Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. It includes reliable evidence from Cochrane and other systematic reviews, clinical trials, and more. Cochrane reviews bring you the combined results of the world’s best medical research studies, and are recognized as the gold standard in evidence-based health care.
You might remember this table which made the rounds over the past 3 years:
The NEW study added to the lot of analysis and updated their ranges of impacts.
For their core analysis on masks they focused on a dozen studies to determine whether or not masking can quell the spread of infectious respiratory diseases.
We took it upon ourselves to update that infographic into something more visual with quotes from the studies. FEEL FREE TO SPREAD THIS FAR AND WIDE!
New Infographic!
Check out this fantastic interview the author of the review, Tom Jefferson:
I put together a short tweet thread on this:
Here are the confidence intervals showing the range of impacts of the studies is a great feature of the report. Their conclusion, these interventions show: "a relative paucity given the importance of the question of masking and its relative effectiveness."
The mask is nothing more then the democrat MAGA hat -- except the hat will, at least, protect your head from sunburn. Eugyppius covered this best, but I am getting endless amounts of "well it did not say NO evidence -- probably under some situation somewhere someday ("dense room", "long trip", "whatever") the masks might help ("little evidence is not no evidence") so I will be wearing mine anyway.
And this from doctors. Makes my head spin just like the girl in Rosemary's Baby.
I know the real science is "little evidence". But until that is interpreted as "THEY DO NOT WORK" this will not end.
But is there evidence that masks might make you stupider by reducing one's access to oxygen and making one breathe in more CO2? Inquiring minds wanna know.