A new peer-reviewed, randomized controlled trial (RCT) of N95s versus surgical masks is undermining the late federal pivot to higher-quality masks and calls to reimpose mask mandates in schools, among other settings.
- Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (AIM) this week, the study found no statistically significant difference in protection between the two kinds of masks in healthcare facilities in Canada, Israel, Pakistan and Egypt.
Retired National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci
- who flip-flopped on masking during the pandemic
- couldn’t name any studies showing mask effectiveness in his recent deposition in state-led litigation against alleged federal censorship.
The McMaster study enrolled about a thousand healthcare workers
- who provided direct care to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19
- and pledged to wear either "fit-tested" N95s or surgical masks for 10 weeks at all times in their facilities
- Weekly self-reporting was backed by "external monitoring" and occasional audits.
The infection rate in the N95 group was 9.27%, and the surgical, 10.46%.
- The former suffered a slightly higher rate of adverse events - discomfort, headache and skin irritation - from wearing the coverings (13.6%) than did the latter (10.8%).
- N95s' superiority over surgical masks was already settled.
If you can't wear an N95 for more than 30 minutes, you're wearing it wrong
- Todd Zywicki, a George Mason University law professor, successfully challenged GMU's COVID vaccine mandate in court.
The weak findings from the most rigorous studies haven't extinguished enthusiasm for mask mandates, particularly in schools, despite warnings from the FDA and 3M not to jury-rig N95s on kids
- A recent op-ed in MedPage Today claimed school masking could "reduce the burden on our healthcare system" in the face of the theorized but vigorously disputed "tripledemic" of COVID, flu and RSV.
- The Department of Health and Human Services commissioned a study by consulting firm Coforma that claimed the reimposition of mask mandates and social distancing could ease the risks to purported sufferers of long COVID.
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