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Massive Peer-Reviewed Mask Study Shows ‘Little To No Difference’ In Preventing COVID, Flu Infection
Nation and State ^ | 02/02/2023 | Tyler Durden

Posted on 02/02/2023 9:57:48 PM PST by SeekAndFind

A massive international research collaboration that analyzed several dozen rigorous studies focusing on "physical interventions" against COVID-19 and influenza found that they provide little to no protection against infection or illness rates.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, is the strongest science to date refuting the basis for mask mandates worldwide.

Nearly 60% of South Korea's population has now tested positive for COVID despite nearly three years of consistent universal masking with overwhelming compliance

When will it be enough for "experts" to admit masks don't work? pic.twitter.com/LS0JF9niog — Ian Miller (@ianmSC) January 25, 2023

And of course, the CDC still recommends masking in areas with "high" rates of transmission (fewer than 4% of US counties, as Just the News notes), along with indoor masking in areas with "medium" rates of transmission (27%).

Masks are still required in educational institutions in Democratic strongholds such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington and California, according to the Daily Mail. Boston Public Schools denied its "temporary masking protocol" in early January was a "mandate," following a public letter against the policy by student Enrique Abud Evereteze.

South Korea is still requiring masks on public transport and in medical facilities after dropping COVID mandates in most indoor settings, including gyms, Monday, Reuters reported. -Just the News

According to the Cochrane study, which included the work of researchers at institutions in the U.K., Canada, Australia, Italy and Saudi Arabia, a total of 78 studies were analyzed. Most recent additions to the meta-analysis were 11 new randomized controlled trials.

As unlisted study author Carl Heneghan - who directs the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford noted on Twitter: "Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness (ILI)/COVID‐19 like illness compared to not wearing masks."

Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness (ILI)/COVID‐19 like illness compared to not wearing masks (risk ratio (RR) 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84 to 1.09; 9 trials, 276,917 participants — Carl Heneghan (@carlheneghan) January 30, 2023

Harms were rarely measured and poorly reported (very low‐certainty evidence). — Carl Heneghan (@carlheneghan) January 30, 2023

The Danish study had trouble finding a major journal willing to publish its controversial findings that wearing surgical masks had no statistically significant effect on infection rates, even among those who claimed to wear them "exactly as instructed."

Mainstream media overlooked red flags in the Bangladeshi mask study, which found no effect for surgical masks under age 50 and a difference of only 20 infections between control and treatment groups among 342,000 adults. -JTN

Bottom line, mask wearing "probably makes little to no difference," when it comes to influenza-like or COVID-like illnesses, regardless of type of mask used.

2/ LARGE Cochrane Rev (just published 1/30/23) of RCT data ALSO CONFIRMS NO BENEFIT of N95 masks vs. med/surg masks, in either community (n~8K) or HCW (n~8K) settings for prevention of flu-like illness or lab confirmed flu https://t.co/N4TkgI4uUR pic.twitter.com/0DCdYAPo7x — Andrew Bostom, MD, MS (@andrewbostom) January 31, 2023

We're sure the cult of Fauci will now start insisting peer-reviewed meta-analyses aren't 'the science.'


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: covid; flu; infection; masks
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1 posted on 02/02/2023 9:57:48 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Tada... Just like they said in the beginning... So they said in the end.

Mask that aren’t N95 medical grade are absolutely useless... But it made the fearful feel safe. That was the entire reasoning behind the ‘mask’ mandate... Reassuring the fearful that they had nothing to fear. Even though they did, and didn’t... They did get Covid and most of them did survived. 90% of Covid deaths were people over 70 with health conditions that made them susceptible to any respiratory illness.


2 posted on 02/02/2023 10:14:11 PM PST by jerod (Nazi's were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: SeekAndFind

When masks used by the public are not preventing the cold or flu, have not ever prevented either for years, then the masks are not going to prevent Covid either. I don’t need a study by experts to give me permission to know what I already knew.


3 posted on 02/02/2023 10:27:24 PM PST by Widget Jr
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To: SeekAndFind

Spread the word, then.
Shout it from the highest Laptops!


4 posted on 02/02/2023 10:29:01 PM PST by lee martell (.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Masks did nothing to prevent CCP virus.

Now we would like to see studies about any HARM, that was done to people, (especially children), who were FORCED to wear them for hours and hours on end.

I recall reading an article that said masks contain titanium dioxide, which apparently causes no problems, unless it is inhaled- then it becomes carcinogenic.

And what about psychological damage?

Also, large numbers of babies, and toddlers, had to be referred to Speech therapists, because of mask wearing.

How much more damage has been done?

This all needs to be looked into.

5 posted on 02/02/2023 10:46:15 PM PST by Pajamajan ( PRAY FOR OUR NATION. Never be a peaceful slave in a new Socialist America)
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To: SeekAndFind

But the Chinese population has been very familiar with masks for decades - as a cheap prophylactic against sneezes and the common cold.

Even if proven to be barely better than sneezing into your armpit ...

And why would the US medical establishment suddenly recommend masking up, even knowing that they were just slightly better than a kerchief?


6 posted on 02/02/2023 10:47:21 PM PST by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: jerod

And they never counted our annual flu either. How many Covid deaths were not Covid at all.


7 posted on 02/02/2023 10:49:55 PM PST by Sacajaweau ( )
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To: Sacajaweau

I still see many people wearing their face diapers even in red Oklahoma. I am thinking about making a T-shirt that says: “2020 called and they want their facemask back”.


8 posted on 02/02/2023 11:26:37 PM PST by Right Brother
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To: SeekAndFind
"Massive Peer-Reviewed Mask Study Shows ‘Little To No Difference’ In Preventing COVID, Flu Infection"

There are alternatives just as effective as masks.


9 posted on 02/02/2023 11:29:32 PM PST by clearcarbon (Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Studies? But the media told us that science is when a government employee makes a declaration on TV. We don’t need studies.


10 posted on 02/03/2023 12:19:57 AM PST by ArcadeQuarters (You can't remove RINOs by voting for them!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Fauci said in early Jan. 2020 that masks don’t work and Covid was just a bad flu.

That’s the last time he told the truth.

After Davos that year he did a 180. Wonder why???????/s


11 posted on 02/03/2023 12:26:10 AM PST by lizma2
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To: SeekAndFind

Excerpts from the study quoted in the following...

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full

What are the limitations of the evidence?
Our confidence in these results is generally low to moderate for the subjective outcomes related to respiratory illness, but moderate for the more precisely defined laboratory‐confirmed respiratory virus infection, related to masks and N95/P2 respirators. The results might change when further evidence becomes available. Relatively low numbers of people followed the guidance about wearing masks or about hand hygiene, which may have affected the results of the studies.
[...]
Implications for practice
...The observed lack of effect of mask wearing in interrupting the spread of influenza‐like illness (ILI) or influenza/COVID‐19 in our review has many potential reasons, including: poor study design; insufficiently powered studies arising from low viral circulation in some studies; lower adherence with mask wearing, especially amongst children; quality of the masks used; self‐contamination of the mask by hands; lack of protection from eye exposure from respiratory droplets (allowing a route of entry of respiratory viruses into the nose via the lacrimal duct); saturation of masks with saliva from extended use (promoting virus survival in proteinaceous material); and possible risk compensation behaviour leading to an exaggerated sense of security (Ammann 2022; Brosseau 2020; Byambasuren 2021; Canini 2010; Cassell 2006; Coroiu 2021; MacIntyre 2015; Rengasamy 2010; Zamora 2006).


12 posted on 02/03/2023 1:00:16 AM PST by familyop ("For they that sleep with dogs, shall rise with fleas" (John Webster, "The White Devil" 1612).)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, of course wearing surgical masks does little to protect the wearer. They are not designed to do so.*

Note however that hospitalization rates in countries with high compliance mask wearing tend to be low. Lower virion levels in the air lead to initially smaller infections. Initially smaller infections usually (usually!) lead to less serious illness.

*Quality(!) N95’s used correctly do a good job of reducing virion levels present from being inhaled. But how many people ever had a useful supply of N95’s? I tried to survey my friends, acquaintances, church, people in stores, etc., and came up with 0.3%. One of which was me.


13 posted on 02/03/2023 1:04:41 AM PST by Paul R. (You know your pullets are dumb if they don't recognize a half Whopper as food!)
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To: Paul R.

The KF94 masks (South Korea) were shown to have done about as well as the N95s in particle test reports. They’re much easier to breathe through and easy to wear (better for manual laborers). One needs to avoid the Chinese knockoffs, though. H.A.C. is one of the Korean companies that makes real ones.

I know several people who did manual labor in high human traffic environments (thousands of people per day in crowded conditions at times) without getting sick through the whole epidemic. They wore KF94s but were also vaccinated after vaccine availability (mandatory for those essential workers). They tried N95s but didn’t like them.

One employee wore N95s the whole time, but he was a slow mover. Still don’t know how he could stand to wear that thing while lifting, even slowly.


14 posted on 02/03/2023 1:26:24 AM PST by familyop ("For they that sleep with dogs, shall rise with fleas" (John Webster, "The White Devil" 1612).)
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To: Paul R.
"Lower virion levels in the air lead to initially smaller infections. Initially smaller infections usually (usually!) lead to less serious illness."

Yes, lower viral loads tend to be defeated sooner by the immune system. I no longer have links to the research reports but have posted them with quotes here a few times in the past.

15 posted on 02/03/2023 1:29:59 AM PST by familyop ("For they that sleep with dogs, shall rise with fleas" (John Webster, "The White Devil" 1612).)
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To: Paul R.

The employees I mentioned were properly instructed on how to wear, handle and dispose of the masks, by the way. They were also instructed on hand washing, using hand lotion, etc.


16 posted on 02/03/2023 1:33:04 AM PST by familyop ("For they that sleep with dogs, shall rise with fleas" (John Webster, "The White Devil" 1612).)
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To: Pajamajan

Speech impediments are off the charts.


17 posted on 02/03/2023 2:35:51 AM PST by GranTorino (Bloody Lips Save Ships.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Other, similar muzzle studies have yielded almost identical results. That’s real science in action: different researchers getting the same or similar results independently. We know the Democrat media is pushing dogma and propaganda rather than science because they say we can’t question it. The scientific method’s first step is, “Ask a question.”

I knew all along that muzzle mandates were never about stopping a virus. Those imposing muzzles weren’t serious about curing or preventing covid. Their actions prove it.

Muzzles were meant to break us of our individuality and dehumanize us. That’s why slaves had to wear them back in the day. Once again I thank the Canadian trucker protestors who ultimately broke the covidians’ power.


18 posted on 02/03/2023 4:07:28 AM PST by Big Brother Go to Hell
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To: SeekAndFind

I could have told them that in a 20 minute evaluation using common sense along with two 10 minute coffee breaks.


19 posted on 02/03/2023 4:20:11 AM PST by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: jerod

people over 70

I’d make that people over 50 - lots of parents, grandparents and greatgran’s:
50=64 199K
65-74 249K
75-84 287K
85+ 295K
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-from-covid-by-age-us/


20 posted on 02/03/2023 4:32:02 AM PST by blueplum ("...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017) )
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