Study Finds Little Evidence to Support Use of Cloth Masks to Limit Spread of COVID-19

According to reports, researchers found in a report published by the Cato Institute earlier in November that there is little evidence to support the notion that cloth masks significantly reduces the spread of COVID.

In the November 8th report noting the research conducted by researchers Ian T. Liu, Vinay Prasad and Jonathan J. Darrow, it was found that the studies bolstering the efficacy of cloth masks – often touted by federal health authorities and government officials to impose mandates – were poorly executed and bore little evidence to support such claims.

According to the researchers, many of the studies are observational, exposing them to confounding variables.

The researchers examined 16 randomized control trials that compared the effectiveness of adorning masks to those not adorning masks, with regard to the spread of COVID-19, noting that 14 of those studies failed to produce a statistically significant benefit to masking up.

Furthermore, the researchers noted that with respect to a quantitative meta-analyses of the 16 trials, half of the trials showed weak evidence of mask effectiveness while the other half “were equivocal or critical as to whether evidence supports a public recommendation of masks.”

Speaking to the Epoch Times regarding the revelation found in the report, Harvard Medical School assistant professor of medicine Dr. Jonathan Darrow noted that these findings are consistent with findings spanning back over a century regarding the efficacy of cloth masks.

“The biggest takeaway is that more than 100 years of attempts to prove that masks are beneficial has produced a large volume of mostly low-quality evidence that has generally failed to demonstrate their value in most settings. Officials mulling mask recommendations should turn their attention to interventions with larger and more certain benefits, such as vaccines. Based on the evidence currently available, masks are mostly a distraction from the important work of promoting the public health.”

The three researchers behind the study conceded that while there is evidence that cloth masks do limit the dispersion of droplets, these types of masks are unlikely to capture particles – even if they’re being worn correctly.

In conclusion, the researchers said that from an ethical standpoint, government officials who function as mask proponents should “refrain from portraying the evidence as stronger than it actually is,” regarding mask efficacy.

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