Oh dear… masks again. As hints abound in the US that they want to reinstate Covid mandates. Because of some variant that’s apparently more transmissible than Omicron but also not more deadly. So … WTF? And. So we have to get back into the whole masks issue, again. Where it’s “believe the science” until you don’t like the science. Science… until it confounds the narrative.
Sigh…
From a recent article on the Cochrane report, which concluded not much effect of masking at a population level. Which should have been the final word, but wasn’t. The sum of which was: If you want to wear an N95 mask, fine. Just don’t mandate it for the population. (There are common sense obvious reasons, when you think about it, why masks, properly and tightly fitted, work on a lab-test mannequin, but not in a crowd of people, wearing masks every which way).
Snip:
Many people have been led to believe that the Cochrane study has been "debunked" or "retracted," but neither is the case. The sole purpose of the note attached to the study is to create the impression that it has been retracted while it has not. The research stands; the political impression is the opposite, as intended.
To give you an idea how slapdash the editor's response was, consider this: Soares-Weiser got an email from the New York Times and hastily responded, undermining the scientists–without even making an attempt to speak with them. She implied that the study was wrong without even seeking comment from the people who did the study, on a subject with which she was utterly unfamiliar.
This is science in the modern world. [More…]
