Long On Emotion, Short On Science
© 12.04.20 David Eric Williams
It seems everyone has jumped on the masking bandwagon. Even doctors and board-members of local hospitals in our neck of the woods have gone on record as supporting mandatory masking. Yet, when demanding the masses be masked, they can do no better than cite organizational authorities or make emotional appeals. This is because every premise they put forth in favor of masking is contradicted by actual science.
Consider the recent publication of a Danish randomized controlled trial concerning the efficacy of masking in protecting healthy individuals from the SARS CoV 2 ("Effectiveness Of adding a mask recommendation to other public health measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection in Danish mask wearers"). The study determined, "the recommendation to wear a surgical mask when outside the home ...did not reduce the incidence of SARS CoV 2 infection in mask wearers." In short, the study found no statistical difference in COVID-19 infection rates between mask wearers and non-mask wearers. This finding is in line with the conclusions reached by other researchers.
In May of 2020, the CDC published a study titled, "Nonpharmaceutical measures for pandemic influenza in non-healthcare settings – personal protective and environmental measures" that "found no significant effect of face-masks on transmission of laboratory confirmed influenza." Significantly, the study also declared, "we did not find evidence that surgical type face-masks are effective in reducing laboratory confirmed influenza transmission, either when worn by infected persons (source control) or by persons in the general community to reduce their susceptibility." In other words, face masks are not effective no matter who wears them.
In June 2020, the World Health Organization published a paper titled "Advice on the use of masks in the context of COVID-19" that concluded "there is no direct evidence (from studies on COVID-19 and in healthy people in the community) on the effectiveness of universal masking of healthy people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory viruses including COVID-19."
A September 2020 study published in the Frontiers In Medicine journal reported a meta-analysis assessing research drawn from "a total of 23,892 participants ...across 15 studies from 11 countries." The conclusion was, "surgical mask wearing among individuals in non-healthcare settings is not significantly associated with reduction in acute respiratory illnesses (according to the) meta-review."
As I've mentioned before, it is easy to cite study after study refuting the claim that masking is effective in mitigating the spread of virus caused diseases. It simply is not true that masking helps stop the spread of the SARS CoV 2. Emotional appeals and the citation of organizational authorities do not change that fact.
If I had to give a reason for the constant claim that masking will stop the spread of the COVID-19, I would suggest it is fear. People are afraid and the reason they are afraid is because our civil authorities and many medical professionals have portrayed the SARS CoV 2 as a deadly plague. Here again we find a dearth of data to back this up. In fact, information on excess deaths in the USA contradicts the pandemic narrative (see: John Hopkins Professor, Genevieve Briand's Presentation, "The Covid-19 Deaths: A Look at U.S. Data."
I encourage each of you to reject the COVID-19 hysteria. Do not mindlessly embrace the politically correct point of view. Instead, do your own research (see 403forbidden.us for instance) and use your God-given common sense. Don't let the "experts" mislead you.
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