Ian Miller at Rational Ground provides Post-Thanksgiving mask charts that show no evidence that masks work.

​

From spring to fall of 2020, several Scandinavian countries did not have mask mandates. In supermarkets, on buses, and along the streets of capitals -- such as Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki and Reykjavik -- face masks were a rare sight, worn only by a small minority, many of who were tourists. Yet, their coronavirus cases are comparable to European countries that have mask mandates.

​

More from the Swiss Policy Research "Are Face Masks Effective? The Evidence."

 

• There is increasing evidence that the novel coronavirus is transmitted, at least in indoor settings, not only by droplets but also by smaller aerosols. However, due to their large pore size and poor fit, cloth masks cannot filter out aerosols (see video analysis below): over 90% of aerosols penetrate or bypass the mask and fill a medium-sized room within minutes.

​

• The WHO admitted to the BBC that its June 2020 mask policy update was due not to new evidence but “political lobbying”: “We had been told by various sources WHO committee reviewing the evidence had not backed masks but they recommended them due to political lobbying. This point was put to WHO who did not deny.” (D. Cohen, BBC Medical Corresponent).

​

• To date, the only randomized controlled trial (RCT) on face masks against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community setting found no statistically significant benefit (see above). However, three major journals refused to publish this study, delaying its publication by several months.

​

• An analysis by the US CDC found that 85% of people infected with the new coronavirus reported wearing a mask “always” (70.6%) or “often” (14.4%). Compared to the control group of uninfected people, always wearing a mask did not reduce the risk of infection.

​

• Researchers from the University of Minnesota found that the infectious dose of SARS-CoV-2 is just 300 virions (viral particles), whereas a single minute of normal speaking may generate more than 750,000 virions, making cloth face masks unlikely to prevent an infection.

​

• Japan, despite its widespread use of face masks, experienced its most recent influenza epidemic with more than 5 million people falling ill just one year ago, in January and February 2019. However, unlike SARS-CoV-2, the influenza virus is easily transmitted by children, too.

​

• Austrian scientists found that the introduction, retraction and re-introduction of a face mask mandate in Austria had no influence on the coronavirus infection rate.

​

• In the US state of Kansas, the 90 counties without mask mandates had lower coronavirus infection rates than the 15 counties with mask mandates. To hide this fact, the Kansas health department tried to manipulate the official statistics and data presentation.

​

• Contrary to common belief, studies in hospitals found that the wearing of a medical mask by surgeons during operations didn’t reduce post-operative bacterial wound infections in patients.

​

• During the notorious 1918 influenza pandemic, the use of cloth face masks among the general population was widespread and in some places mandatory, but they made no difference.

​

• Asian countries with low covid infection rates, most of them neighboring China, benefited not from face masks but mainly from early border closures. This is confirmed by Scandinavian countries Norway, Finland and Denmark, which didn’t introduce mask mandates but closed borders early and saw very low covid infection and death rates, too.

​

• German scientists found that in and on N95 (FFP2) masks, the novel coronavirus remains infectious for several days, much longer than on most other materials, thus significantly increasing the risk of infection by touching or reusing such masks.

​

Studies claiming face masks are effective

​

Some recent studies argued that cloth face masks are indeed effective against the new coronavirus and could at least prevent the infection of other people. However, most of these studies suffer from poor methodology and sometimes show the opposite of what they claim.

Typically, these studies ignore the effect of other measures, the natural development of infection numbers, changes in test activity, or they compare countries with very different conditions.

​

An overview:

​

• A meta-study in the journal Lancet, commissioned by the WHO, claimed that masks “could” lead to a reduction in the risk of infection, but the studies considered mainly N95 respirators in a hospital setting, not cloth masks in a community setting, the strength of the evidence was reported as “low”, and experts found numerous flaws in the study. Professor Peter Jueni, epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, called the WHO study “essentially useless”.

​

• A study in the journal PNAS claimed that masks had led to a decrease in infections in three global hotspots (including New York City), but the study did not take into account the natural decrease in infections and other simultaneous measures. The study was so flawed that over 40 scientists recommended that the study be withdrawn.

​

• A US study claimed that US counties with mask mandates had lower Covid infection and hospitalization rates, but the authors had to withdraw their study as infections and hospitalizations increased in many of these counties shortly after the study was published.

​

• A German study claimed that the introduction of mandatory face masks in German cities had led to a decrease in infections. But the data does not support this claim: in some cities there was no change, in others a decrease, in others an increase in infections (see graph below). The city of Jena was an ‘exception’ only because it simultaneously introduced the strictest quarantine rules in Germany, but the study did not mention this.

​

• A Canadian study claimed that countries with mandatory masks had fewer deaths than countries without mandatory masks. But the study compared African, Latin American, Asian and Eastern European countries with very different infection rates and population structures.

​​

• A small review by the University of Oxford claimed that face masks are effective, but it was based on studies about SARS-1 and in health care settings, not in community settings.

​

Conclusion

​

There’s little scientific evidence that the various face coverings we call “masks” do much if anything to stop the spread of the coronavirus. If the coronavirus is indeed transmitted via indoor aerosols, cloth masks are unlikely to be protective. Health authorities should therefore not assume or suggest that cloth face masks will reduce the rate or risk of infection. For general population, masks should be voluntary, not mandatory. To make matter worse, now the government via CDC is endorsing double masking.

​

The mask mandate is a way to remind people of constant unnecessary fear of the coronavirus as well as the fear of the authority. It has become a mask of fear and obedience. With little to no scientific support, or at least with some conflicting scientific evidence, a mask mandate is a purely political move intended specifically to create fear, anxiety and most important of all, obedience to government edicts.

​

Suggested Readings

​

• Post-Thanksgiving Mask Charts: Still No Evidence That Masks Work

​

• New Study Shows Mask Mandates Had Zero Effect in Florida or Nationwide, But the Lie Continues

​

• Alex Berenson’s Book About Face Masks Is An Absolute Must-Read

​

• Are Face Masks Effective? The Evidence

 

• CDC Officially Endorses Double Masking

​

• Doctors Warn: Potential Long Term Side Effects of Mask Wearing Include Shortness of Breath, a Weakened Immune System and Chronic Respiratory Conditions

​

• Only Science-Deniers Believe In A National Mask Mandate

​

• Europe's Top Health Officials Say Masks Aren't Helpful in Beating COVID-19

​

• Which Countries Are Requiring Face Masks?

​

Previous "THE FOCUS"

​

Ideological Pandemic (2/7/2021)

Stolen Election (2/5/2021)

Reopening: The Best Stimulus (2/1/2021)

The States of COVID-19 (1/29/2021) 

The Virus from Nowhere (1/27/2021)

The Year of Fraud (1/26/2021)

The Biden's China (1/25/2021)

The Unfree Speech (1/24/2021)

​