A new summery examined 78 different studies on the efficacy of different mitigation efforts such as masking, distancing, screening, quarantining, and hand-washing. How did these interventions affect the spread of the flu, COVID, or similar viruses?
They covered epidemics as well as periods of low transmission, rich countries and poor countries, suburban schools and inner-city neighborhoods, hospitals and villages.
Most important was what they had in common: They were all randomized controlled trials or at least cluster-RCTs.
For starters, hand-washing was effective in stopping the spread of these illnesses. That’s not surprising.
But here’s the most eye-opening finding: “Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness/COVID‐19-like illness compared to not wearing masks.” In other words, masks didn't do much if anything.
It’s possible that a community could drive down spread if everyone wore well-fitted high-quality masks such as N-95s or respirators, but there is no conclusive evidence that it does.
With that in mind, think back to late 2020 to mid-2022, when mayors, governors, school districts, and even the U.S. Department of Transportation and Joe Biden were forcing masks on unwilling people especially children even when viral transmission was very low.
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