So masks do work after all -- a comprehensive scientific review

[jaywalker2]

If they're work correctly and consistently, it appears masks are effective in reducing transmission of respitory diseases, including Covid 19

 

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/cmr.00124-23

[xylophone]

11 minutes ago, jaywalker2 said:

If they're work correctly and consistently, it appears masks are effective in reducing transmission of respitory diseases, including Covid 19

 

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/cmr.00124-23

Agree and I read this or a similar research paper a short while ago. 

[Kinnock]

Logical too .... a simple barrier to reduce airborne particle spread.  A much better option than wrecking economies and forcing businesses into bankruptcy with lockdowns.

 

The practice of wearing a mask in public whenever you have a cold or flu was common practice in Asia long before COVID.

[BKKBike09]

 

Single-use 'surgical' masks are of limited benefit and are bad for the environment.

 

"Many consumer masks appear similar and may be labeled “surgical” masks, but if not formally certified, their performance cannot be predicted. While surgical masks reduce respiratory aerosols, culture-positive SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in exhaled air from loose-fitting surgical masks ... The pore size in typical non-woven materials used in surgical masks and respirators is larger than many viruses like SARS-CoV-2 (65–125 nm in diameter)"

 

A number of reviews published since 2022 have documented the environmental impact of these products. One estimated that 15 trillion face masks are used globally every year, resulting in 2 megatons of waste ... Single-use masks and respirators are typically made from synthetic polymers including polypropylene, polyester, polyurethane, polyacrylonitrile, polycarbonate, polyethylene, polystyrene, and polymeric nanofibers and microfibers, which are not biodegradable"

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/cmr.00124-23

[jaywalker2]

An interesting tidbit is that the Cochrane Review that was used to disparage the use of masks had ties to the notorious Brownstone Institue, the ultra-conservative libertarian "think tank" that has devoted itself to attacking all government measures to mitigate the pandemic (Jay Bhattacharya, Trump's choice to head the NIH is one of its writers):

 

"Readers will recall that Brownstone’s Tom Jefferson was First Author for John Conly’s now discredited anti-masking study at the Cochrane Institute (actual scholarship here), and that Brownstone’s Carl Heneghan was functionally an Unlisted Author, though he didn’t list himself in credits. Neither disclosed their Brownstone affiliation. All this violated Cochrane’s famously strict standards, although when Cochrane Library editors “engaged” with the authors while writing their “Statement,” these matters never came up. Suffice to say I don’t have a great deal of confidence in how Brownstone, or its authors, do business."

 

 

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/12/jay-bhattacharya-trumps-pick-to-head-the-nih-is-a-eugenicist-charlatan.html