From a research team from the University of Hong Kong:
"In our systematic review, we identified 10 RCTs that reported estimates of the effectiveness of face masks in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infections in the community from literature published during 1946–July 27, 2018. In pooled analysis, we found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks....There is limited evidence for their effectiveness in preventing influenza virus transmission either when worn by the infected person for source control or when worn by uninfected persons to reduce exposure. Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza."
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article?fbclid=IwAR1paMwS5sVoyd3pXunigSCHln7NpWG8DSLA628XCpJNqVVY3DHHX0Sv2oo
From a mask study with our own Marines at Parris Island specifically regarding Covid:
For those who agreed to mask up, by day 14, 2.8% of the 1,848 tested positive. Of those who didn't, 2.3% of the 3,402 who didn't mask up tested positive by day 14.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2029717
From a study in Denmark specifically regarding Covid:
"Although the difference observed was not statistically significant, the 95% CIs are compatible with a 46% reduction to a 23% increase in infection...The recommendation to wear surgical masks to supplement other public health measures did not reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate among wearers by more than 50% in a community with modest infection rates, some degree of social distancing, and uncommon general mask use."
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/m20-6817
First of all, your 'Hong Kong' study is from May, 2020, while the sources I've presented are a year later with upwards of 100 references or more in them. The attached JAMA article has a summary table of several such studies that all show remarkable mitigation benefits vs COVID-19 when masks are used...here are some more points to ponder...
>While masking alone will not stop all transmission of COVID-19, it will definitely impede that transmission...even if only to a small amount with cloth masks, or a much greater degree with N95 masks like we should be using now in the face of the Omicron variant...while the following PNAS MIT Report originally provided by Baron predates Omicron, the relative performance of masking types is shown to be dramatic when dealing with an airborne pathogen.
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/17/e2018995118
>More emphasis needs to be put on the word "Mitigation"...people should think of masks as a means of "slowing down" the spread of COVID...not absolute protection. Slowing the spread of a deadly airborne pathogen is a GOOD thing and it definitely REDUCES the number of people getting infected...and fortunately, it's very easy to do...can you not agree with that?...why would you not want to use a simple and inexpensive tool like a mask during a pandemic?...why do you fight this?
Link: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776536
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"Scott Mendelson, MD, PhD | University of Illinois
It is astonishing the degree to which some fight, tooth and nail, against the simple wearing of a mask. You would think they are being required to sacrifice a body part. Unlike in mathematics, nothing can be proved in medical science. There are only weak or strong indications. There is now substantial data showing that masking can slow the spread of covid. The better the mask, the better the effect. Why the fight? It's not reasonable, it is political--though for life of me I can't understand even the political motivation. The necessity and value of using a protective method varies with the degree of danger we face and the protection it can offer versus the damage that method can cause. If one was told that removal of their left thumb might help slow the spread of the common cold, it would be stupid to agree to thumb removal. However, if told that a harmless mask might help slow the spread of a virus that has killed hundreds of thousands in our country and devastated our hospitals, it would be foolish not to wear one."
i.e. Stop whining.
And that "data" never came from RCTs. It comes from the theoretical supposition of masks blocking water droplets. And yet in The Lancet we have an article titled "Ten scientific reasons in support of aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2" which specifically states water droplets are not a main source of transmission.
From the report...
“Our study provides strong evidence that mask wearing can interrupt the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. It also suggests that filtration efficiency is important. This includes the fit of the mask as well as the materials from which it is made. A cloth mask is certainly better than nothing. But now might be a good time to consider upgrading to a surgical mask.”
This report was published Sept. 1, 2021...if it were repeated now, I'm sure they'd recommend N95 masks as an upgrade to the surgical masks...bottom line...wear masks...they all help to mitigate the spread of COVID-19...
Can we please put this poor horse out of its misery?
Link: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-masks-covid-19.html
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See and read Baron's loudly proclaimed MIT Report (attached) that he says proves masks are useless and merely "Virtue Signaling"...
Link: https://www.pnas.org/content/118/17/e2018995118
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Link: https://newsinfection.com/2021/08/smoke-detectors.html
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“Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. When someone says ‘science teaches such and such’, he is using the word incorrectly. Science doesn’t teach it; experience teaches it”
- Richard Feynman
"Finally, with regard to this time-binding, a man cannot live beyond the grave. Each generation that discovers something from its experience must pass that on, but it must pass that on with a delicate BALANCE of respect and disrespect, so that the [human] race–now that it is aware of the disease to which it is liable–does not inflict its errors too rigidly on its youth, but it does pass on the ACCUMULATED WISDOM, plus the wisdom that it may not be wisdom." (emphasis added)
Richard Feynman doesn't discount 'Expertise'...he counsels continued exploration THROUGH the use of scientific tools, expertise and methods and not blind acceptance of what current science has documented...IMHO...and in regard to our current COVID-19 pandemic, I also believe that this process is being dealt with in a proper scientific manner...which 'weeds out' non-effective offerings, such as Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin.
btw, you should get the boxed set of "The Feynman Lectures on Physics", and/or watch many of his YouTube lessons...what a fantastic man.
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Forget the climate and your other dumb whatever for a minute or two.
Tell us all about the science on biological sex.
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