A new gold standard review of 100 studies finds:
- masks are effective in reducing transmission of respiratory diseases
- N95 respirators are significantly more effective than medical or cloth masks
- mask mandates are effective in reducing community transmission
The new review showing the effectiveness of masks addresses the flawed Cochrane study, which was deliberately misinterpreted by anti-maskers & some media to spread misinformation around masks.
This new review will serve as a gold standard reference to debunk mask misinformation.
"When we looked at RCTs, we found that masks do protect in the community, and N95 respirators are superior. Non-RCT evidence also shows that masks work and respirators work better."
Accompanying piece: https://theconversation.com/masks-work-our-comprehensive-review-has-found-229658
Updated mask effectiveness study
@luckytran On 2 recent medical visits — annual checkup & 👁️ exam — I wore my N95 from my 🚘 till I returned to my 🚘 (as I do in all public places).
Here’s who else wore a 😷:
1. My nurse & my physician (a medical 😷 & N95, respectively)
2. The woman administering the 1st part of my 👁️ exam (medical 😷)
Here’s who didn’t:
Clerks, lab tech, optometrist, optician, & everyone in the waiting rooms (including several elderly patients).
And this was in 2 well-educated, “blue” communities.
@djotaku @luckytran I also attended #PyConUS. I've not seen official reports from the conf. organizers, but another attendee wrote that there were some cases of COVID-19 among attendees. The mask requirement at PyCon US reduced the transmission of that virus and others.
Last year, I asked a doctor about mask usage. I was told that if less than approx. 75% of people at an event are wearing masks, the results are similar to that of nobody wearing a mask.
🙏 @luckytran
Here too is the masterly thread by lead author Prof Trish Greenhalgh, in plain language & bite-sized talking points. 48 posts, click "more replies" to see all:
https://nitter.privacydev.net/trishgreenhalgh/status/1793266317417439471
#COVIDisAirborne #Mask #MaskMeansRespirator #SciComm #COVID #pandemic #PublicHealth @trishgreenhalgh
It’s out! Our new state-of-the-science review of MASKS/RESPIRATORS in reducing transmission of respiratory infections. 13 authors (for our disciplines, see posts 3-4). 38000 words. 413 references. One conclusion: these devices work. For detail, read on. 1/ https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/cmr.00124-23
@luckytran In case of a "429 Too Many Requests Error", please try again later; alter URL to another nitter server, eg
https://nitter.poast.org/trishgreenhalgh/status/1793266317417439471
or see
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1793266317417439471.html
#TIL we can turn off tracking protection to see images in #ThreadReaderApp, albeit in odd sizes, affecting layout.
#Nitter avoids tracking, shows replies, connects to other posts, etc, but the popularity of this thread by @trishgreenhalgh (1m views on birdsite) is taxing its remaining servers...
https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Instances
@luckytran
Here is a follow-on thread by Prof Glen Pyle, responding to misinformation on the physics of masking:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1794126507830321611.html
or
https://nitter.poast.org/glenpyle/status/1794126507830321611
#Mask #MaskMeansRespirator #SciComm #COVID #pandemic #PublicHealth @glenpyle @trishgreenhalgh
Dr. Lucky Tran 
Jenny
done
Starraven
Laloofah
Dieu
Eric
mystixa 🎶🎧
Mr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) 👤
Claire Barnes