Letter: Mandatory or Optional Masks

Dear Editor,

MSM, at the behest of the powers in D.C., is again having Dr. Fauci out there prepping and defending another mandatory wearing of face ‘Masks’ coming our way, if not nationally, Gov. Hochul has already opened the door to do so. We are already seeing the results of this ‘scare’ tactic in a few of the local medical facilities. Dr. Fauci was challenged in a recent interview on newly released studies by the independent Cochrane Research Center on the efficacy of wearing masks.

This is the study being released by Cochrane Research Center:

Medical / surgical masks compared to no masks: We included 12 trials (10 cluster‐RCTs) comparing medical / surgical masks versus no masks to prevent the spread of viral respiratory illness (two trials with healthcare workers and 10 in the community). 

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; moderate‐certainty evidence.

Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza / SARS‐CoV‐2 compared to not wearing masks (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.42; 6 trials, 13,919 participants; moderate‐certainty evidence). Harms were rarely measured and poorly reported (very low‐certainty evidence). 

The pooled results of RCTs did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical / surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators in healthcare workers when used in routine care to reduce respiratory viral infection. (www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full) 

Dr. Fauci reluctantly didn’t deride the Cochrane Review study as much as he conceded the validity of the study. His comeback reply was marginal at best if only obfuscating, “Masks may not work on a population level, but they can be effective on an individual level.” (Meaning what?) 

Sincerely,

Florence Alpert

Candor, N.Y.