A recent study of masks worn in Denmark is being shared as if to prove that masks do not protect us. This is not what the study really says.
I will go into the following specifics, but for now I want to show a couple of lines from the paper itself:
The most important limitation is that the findings are inconclusive …
And
It is important to emphasize that the effects of this trial mask are not considered as source control [protecting others from the wearer] Or as security in settings where social distance and other public health measures are not effective.
So if you are sharing this study to support your previously held opinion that the mask is stupid and you do not want to wear one, please stop. Now, let’s see what the study really was.
Designed to answer which question?
Newly published study, title Effectiveness of adding the recommendation of the mask to other public health measures to prevent SARS-Co-2 infection in Danish mask wear., Was performed in Denmark in April and May of this year.
G / O media can get commission
The study setting was not as big as the world we are living in at the time. Cases were rare, and most people did not wear masks. With the lockdown starting in March, the country is relying on social distance as their main way to slow the spread of Seaweed-19. Continued through May.
The question was: If we mail people a box of masks and ask them to wear masks, will people with masks be less at risk of getting infected? The study did not turn a blind eye, as it is clear that you know if you are wearing a mask. Participants tested themselves for antibodies and reported on a survey whether they wore masks according to instructions.
What did they get?
Investigators did not see a sharp decrease in the infection they were hoping for. Both groups જે those who mapped the masks and those who did not – end up with almost the same rate of infection.
Did they see one Small Risk reduction? Impossible to say. The study was conducted, In a numerical sense, To find a 50% reduction in infection between the mask group and the control group. If the mask reduces the risk of low risk – 25%? 10%? – The study did not find it.
Therefore, the main findings of the study were that even a reduction of less than 0% was likely to increase the risk of infection. It has a wide range of possibilities because the study is not designed to tell the difference between any of them.
“Bottom line – you’re wearing a mask, maybe not halving your risk of infection. But it can reduce it by 20%, and the whole country is experiencing a massive epidemic, which is on the rise, ”says Gideon Meirovitz-Katz, an epidemiologist at the University of Wollongong.
Which he did not find
This study did not ask what happens if most of the people around you wear masks and you don’t like it. (It was unusual to wear a mask in Denmark at the time.)
The study did not ask what happens if you go without a mask about your life, shopping and socialization. (Denmark was in lockdown during most of the study.)
This study did not test the nationwide mask command (again, there was none).
This study did not test whether the mask prevented you from spreading the coronavirus if you were sick. (He only saw the risk of infection for the wearer.)
The study did not directly test the mask, it only happens when you advise people to wear it. (As Vinay Prasad Wrote in Medpage Today“Cake is both a batter and an oven temperature, and the public health recommendation is the recommendation itself and whether people follow it.” This study does not exclude the two.)
As the CDC recently clarified, we have Other evidence that the mask may benefit the wearer. Danish studies increase our knowledge by saying not to expect huge benefits for those who wear masks. It reminds us that people don’t always follow recommendations; Study participants had to report whether they recommend wearing a mask and about half said they follow the instruction exactly.
“Based on this study, it’s not fair to say that the masks failed, or are useless,” says Meirovitz-Katz. He said the mask command could still be a “big benefit to society”, even if it benefited anyone less. We kind of already knew that, didn’t we? Wear your mask.
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