This so-called “mystery illness” makes all sense now. And in Asian countries, it is not uncommon to see people everywhere masked up.
Brainwashing works
Medical masks were never meant to be worn all the time. In that case all they are is germ traps.
How do you “adjust for baseline risk”? People who feel more at risk but who need to expose themselves to potential infection are more likely to do xyz thing to protect themselves. Whatever xyz is: prophylactic ivermectin, vitamins, masks, lucky rocks.
PING
Honest study. Thanks.
A peer-reviewed cross-sectional study (n=3231) funded by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health found that persons reporting to wear a face mask sometimes/often or almost always/always had a 33% and 40% higher incidence of self-reported COVID-19 compared to those wearing face masks never or almost never after adjusting for available, relevant confounders (Epidem Infection. 2023;Nov. 13;DOI: 10.1017/S0950268823001826). Based on the observational nature of this study, the authors state “o note that this association may be due to unobservable and non-adjustable differences between those wearing and not wearing a mask”. They also note that “Recommendations to wear face masks in the community are largely informed by low certainty evidence from observational studies”.