Several people asked for the links to the papers I mentioned in the mask op-ed. Here they are with a couple of others and some important additional observations.
Here is the UK Study on virus persistance on various surfaces. (UK Study)
And while I was looking for that I found a bonus paper on the same topic. (Medrxiv Paper)
The modeling face mask particle flows study. (AIP Paper)
And a bonus mannequin study from Japan. (ASM Paper)
If you do a citation search for research citing these papers you will find more. What you will really learn is that, as with most things, the notion that we understand how masks work, much less if they do, is bullshit. Just more garbage science masquerading as expertise.
People can find all kinds of crappy research, or in the case of masking against CV-19, just make up bad research, to support anything they want. If you aren’t skeptical and questioning, and don’t understand statistics and choices in experimental design and the limits of those choices, you are way too accepting of the supposed objective virtue of science. In the US today, that doesn’t exist, it has been completely compromised by ideological dogma and rigidity. Anyone who questions that is like Galileo subjected to the inquisition. Now the ideological and political ends are all that matter, whatever data you make up to support those ends is fully justified. That is the new code of “science”. I consider this degradation and abasement of science the greatest tragedy of my lifetime. We need legislation that forces science back to some level of credibility, that sets standards for use of science and forces revelation of all biases of all types and that shows what results would be if different statistical and design choices were made. Don’t hold your breath. And watch China, India, Russia and every other nation pull far ahead of us in innovation.
A review of 67 RCTs (2020) published by the authoritative Cochrane medical organization.
Key messages: “We are uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses.”
https://www.cochrane.org/CD006207/ARI_do-physical-measures-such-hand-washing-or-wearing-masks-stop-or-slow-down-spread-respiratory-viruses
Theoretically, N95 masks in controlled conditions have some benefit. However in the real world, poor fits, inadequate material, and not wearing masks 100% of the time contribute to the failure of mask mandates to stop COVID. Here is a link to a review of mask effectiveness. Over 50 studies show mask do not work. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666142X20300126
See this Cato evaluation of mask studies: https://www.cato.org/working-paper/evidence-community-cloth-face-masking-limit-spread-sars-cov-2-critical-review
Can it really be possible that Steve McComas of Blue Water Science, aka the “Lake Detective”, is also a reader of this wonderfully informative blog!?
As always, Kevin, thanks for your work and diligence on this stuff – really appreciate your resources and commentary!