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Key Points
- A massive new international meta-study has blown the lid off the masking narrative by analyzing the true effectiveness of masks for tackling infection or illness rates.
- The study was published in the peer-reviewed British medical journal Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews on January 30.
- The researchers found that masks provide “little to no” protection against infection or illness rates of COVID-19 and the flu.
Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness (ILI)/COVID‐19 like illness compared to not wearing masks (risk ratio (RR) 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84 to 1.09; 9 trials, 276,917 participants
— Carl Heneghan (@carlheneghan) January 30, 2023
Harms were rarely measured and poorly reported (very low‐certainty evidence).
— Carl Heneghan (@carlheneghan) January 30, 2023
2/ LARGE Cochrane Rev (just published 1/30/23) of RCT data ALSO CONFIRMS NO BENEFIT of N95 masks vs. med/surg masks, in either community (n~8K) or HCW (n~8K) settings for prevention of flu-like illness or lab confirmed flu https://t.co/N4TkgI4uUR pic.twitter.com/0DCdYAPo7x
— Andrew Bostom, MD, MS (@andrewbostom) January 31, 2023
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