Covid Masking Unmasked Or Not?

News reports of new Covid study were shocking at one level, suspected at another: Face masks made “little or no difference” in preventing spread of Covid? NOT final word, BUT were CDC claims exaggerated, debate rekindled?

Recall how the CDC, Dr. Fauci & Surgeon General at first claimed masks don’t work that well, then, pivoted in April 2020 to say they were essential in stopping the Covid pandemic? As Fox News noted, they suddenly called on all Americans – “even children as young as 2 yrs old” – to mask up? As WSJ had reported, then-CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told a Senate hearing that “face masks are the most important powerful health tool we have,” perhaps even giving more protection than Trump’s Warp Speed vaccines. While the CDC never “mandated” mask wearing, dozens of States did so based on its advice.

Fast forward to now when a new scientific review “led by 12 researchers from esteemed universities around the world … suggests that widespread masking [even the “respirator” kind] may have done little to nothing to curb the transmission of COVID-19.” Fox medical contributor, Dr. Marc Siegel, cautioned that even this latest research may have limits on its “value” because “The researchers focus[ed] primarily on randomized trials, but most of the [earlier] studies that have been done on masks are population studies.” In other words, the randomized trials cited were done in a “controlled environment” vs a “real world” setting. The risk of “bias” on the part of the researchers, then, has to be considered. So does the fact that in the real world, many people ignored the mask wearing recommendation and/or order. Even the Cochrane Library researchers admitted “[Our] results might change when further evidence becomes available.”

Davd Soul