Good thread on the Cochrane Review on masks and Covid.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. Good post

And people are more interested in headlines than nuance. This study reviewed other studies and basically said there wasn't a high enough degree of confidence in those study's results to support masks offering protection. Basically, there is too much uncertainty to draw conclusions either way and therefore, "The pooled results of RCTs did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks."

And it's 1 review, there are many others that did find evidence mask wearing helps.

We don't make decisions based on 1 study or even a review like this of multiple studies. It's a data point that helps paint a picture. And even if the next 10 reviews all show the same thing and mask wearing is more definitively shown not to help stop Covid transmission, it doesn't mean that we were wrong to wear masks or require mask wearing, we were acting with the best information at the time.

I do think that DU has had its share of science deniers around Covid in both directions. But the last year it has trended towards alarm and anger when our leaders follow the science with easing Covid policies. Get vaccinated, no one is stopping you from wearing a mask and self isolating, but the risk from Covid is quite low right now, transmission is low and deaths are the lowest daily since the opening days of the pandemic. Long Covid is definitely something we should monitor.