A new study showing that the recommendation to wear masks “did not reduce the infection rate among wearers by more than 50%” has finally been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The study, which followed 4,800 Danish citizens in spring and early summer 2020, appeared in preprint several weeks ago, but had been largely ignored by medical journals until now. In a commentary for MedPageToday, Dr. Vinay Prasad, a physician and associate professor at UC San Francisco, said the study was most likely shunned at first because “we have such strong emotions toward masks.”
In other words, the world has become sold on the idea that masks are what make the difference in the pandemic’s spread that emotions have gotten in the way of true science and the topic has turned political. However, he added that this study is “well done, thoughtful, useful and what we need more of.”
What the study shows, he said, is that in places like Denmark with moderate transmission, “there is insufficient evidence to suggest wearing a mask as you go about daily errands will protect you from infection.
SOURCES:
MedPageToday November 18, 2020
Annals of Internal Medicine November 18, 2020