But They Look Good…
A loooong Sunday overnight in the desolation of the Atlanta mega-airport (hint: NO bars, restaurants, nada was open), interrupted interminable hours mingling with the masses boarding, deplaning, and sitting around in every variety of masks – “federal law requires” (!) of course. Most (me included) wore the more comfortable cloth face coverings, while some sported open-sided surgical masks, and some modelled N95’s and even a few clear plastic paranoia shields over those.
Did any of that do any good, apart from humbling the paying customers to a level acceptable for mass packaging and transport? Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH examines the question in his comments on a study of a cluster randomized control trial conducted in Bangladesh. The study was based on 340,000 subjects in 600 villages, with participants randomized to surgical or cloth masks, to determine relative infection rates (By “surgical” I must presume that we mean the pastel-colored tight-weave paper one with the ear loops and the bendable nose thingy, not the vaunted N95, as I couldn’t find in any of the materials where it was otherwise specified). During the trial period, participants reporting any active Covidity would have their blood drawn to confirm infection.
“The primary findings include:
- Cloth masks had no advantage over the control arm (no intervention), but surgical masks showed a modest, statistically significant benefit
- The surgical mask intervention reduced symptomatic seroprevalence by 11.2%; the endpoint — COVID-19 symptoms followed by a positive COVID-19 test — occurred in 0.76% of people in the control group compared to 0.67% for those assigned to surgical mask villages.”
So the cloth masks are useless, and only for show, which we have known all along, noting that I choose that pointless adornment for both work and regulated travel. The masks that make you look like one of those cool TV doctors, even if worn only under the chin, seem to accomplish a bit more…a little bit more. Our analyst astutely points out that reporting COVID symptoms may be bias-susceptible, and influenced by how one feels about themselves for having worn a mask: “Some may have had other illnesses, but others may have over-reported symptoms, particularly those who did not mask.”
If the surgi-masks really caused the drop in seroprevalence, that amounted to reducing infection in the study size by 306, or 0.09%. Is this case (not hospitalization) reduction really enough to get excited over? Perhaps, if that reduction can be further extrapolated to show even larger drops over a larger population, but we don’t know that yet.
Dr. Prasad makes an interesting observation, that “the trial was conducted in a region where essentially 0% of people were immune to the virus.” How would these findings be altered in a western nation with a significant portion of the study is vaccinated? Hilariously, “Just 3 months after investigators left, mask usage plummeted, with the bulk of the effect (approximately two-thirds of increase in mask use) being lost.”
Prasad honestly and objectively deals with the ‘precautionary principle’ that we should consider interventions on the possibility that they may (my emphasis) do good. I think this past year has demonstrated that large governments, large corporations, large media, and large mobs cannot be trusted with this, as it becomes a rationale and precedent for “more and longer, just in case,” without end, amen. Prasad seems like an honest broker and one of the few MPH’s I’ve read that are reasonable, and interested in pushing science without agenda. He links to his analysis of the Danish study on masking, using this as well to push for more cluster RCT’s to generate genuinely useable data, as opposed to quasi-religious talismans that hog up more stewardess effort in monitoring than is put into the efficient application of the drink cart. For my money, mass masking is grossly unproven, and the added deleterious effects on the population – particularly the kids – outweighs any minuscule reduction in transmission of a virus whose aerosolized form is still flowing through masks designed to stop droplets.
Get our awesome newsletter by signing up here. It’s FREE!!! And we don’t share your email with anyone.
They should be worn when hovering over an open sterile body cavity. That is all. We all know this is true. Stop it already.
Nice report on a report. Concise. Not much editing. Direct.
If you are 65 or older and choose to get vaccine,go for it. If you choose not to thats YOUR choice too.
Covid Vac’s for those under 65.. NO… Hell No. The vaccine for those under 30.. HELL NO..Vaccine more dangerous than the disease..
Just like hormone therapy for trans Kids.. NO THAT IS CHILD ABUSE. AFTER AGE 29,OK WE ARE FULLY GROWN BY THEN AND ADULT ENOUGH TO MAKE CHOICES. Poor choice in my opinion but I ain’t you….
What I find truly annoying are the “fashion mask” wearers. I want to rip it off their faces. LOL.
No really, I do.
Someone told me his approach to mask wearing. He wont put on his mask until a person with proper authority (not a random neurotic mask vigilante) asks him and then he will comply. He told me that he walked all the way through an airport maskless and only donned it to board the plane.
I tested this method at the crowded Newark airport on Labor Day weekend. I like to wear a surgical mask with ties and leave it hanging from my neck like a real surgeon on break. I walked all through the airport with my face visible and no one challenged me. The only time I put the mask on was going through TSA check point because I didn’t want to pis off those guys.
Prior to boarding, I put on an N-95 because I think that’s a good precaution when sitting next to unknown people in a confined space for hours.
Try it next time you go to airport and see what happens.
And then the TSA agent tells you to take off the make for identification anyway………
I honestly hadn’t even thought about masks in a long time. I live in Texas where it’s not required and you’re ‘encouraged’ to wear one at stores, but not many do.
Work from home as a nurse now, couldn’t take masking up all day so found a job that didn’t require it.
Hate to say, but I’d probably have to leave the profession if I had to go back to masks all day.
Days filled with patients who couldn’t understand me, or I couldn’t understand them. Wore the blue paper masks, but I was always touching my face and mask, moving it around or scratching. Acne and rashes from wearing the sweaty thing all day. Had to start on antibiotics it got so bad.
Feel bad for you folks that travel a lot. What a pain!
Masks in a non-medical setting are pointless. Being forced to wear one outside of a hospital is all about control, but no one wants to question it. “If you can smell a fart, you can inhale some virus.”