Do Masks Work Against Covid?
The data, evidence and science are overwhelming: masks are ineffective against covid and other viruses, and they cause more harm than good - ESPECIALLY to children and teens.
Therefore, mask mandates are both unnecessary and harmful.
Surgical masks are used to keep medical personnel from inadvertently infecting patients’ wounds or bodies opened by surgery, NOT to prevent the spread of viruses. Masks are used to prevent bacterial infections, not viral.
Here are excerpts from an article written by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, The Great Mask Reversal:
“During the pandemic, countless people's rights were violated without any benefit. All of these episodes happened because CDC and other public health organizations misled the public about the science of masking. They called it science, but it wasn't science at all. It was ideology.
“What is most shocking is that the public health establishment has long known that the available evidence does not support masking for viral pathogens.
“In 2019, the World Health Organization published a systematic review and meta-analysis on the use of face masks for the prevention of influenza, involving ten high-quality studies with more than 6000 participants [16]. Its conclusion:
"There was no evidence that face masks are effective in reducing transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza."
“In May 2020, the CDC conducted its own systematic review and meta-analysis, this time of fourteen high-quality studies. Its conclusion:
"Although mechanistic studies support the potential effect of hand hygiene or face masks, evidence from 14 randomized controlled trials of these measures did not support a substantial effect on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza."
“In 2019, when asked whether people should wear masks and socially distance themselves to avoid infection, Fauci laughed and called this “paranoia.” Emails also show that in February and March of 2020, Fauci knew that masks do not protect against respiratory viral infection.
“In early February 2020, Fauci himself wrote in a private email to the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell:
“The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through the material. It might, however, provide some slight benefit in keep [sic] out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you. I do not recommend that you wear a mask, particularly since you are going to a very low risk location.”
“Fauci’s assistant also forwarded a summary of a morning meeting to participants. In it, the presenter says, consistent with the evidence at the time and now:
“I can see an argument for a theoretical benefit but the data is scarce and studies have many flaws.”
“Meanwhile, in March 2020, Trump’s Surgeon General Jerome Adams reported faithfully the randomized controlled trial evidence that masks do not work. He even warned masks might increase the risk of COVID. (He would later become one of the most zealous mask promoters.)
“However, by April 2020, advice had reversed. Here is CDC at the time:
“CDC is advising the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.”
“There was universal scientific consensus pre-April 2020 that masks did not work. But, somehow, post-April 2020, what had once been scientific consensus had suddenly become ‘misinformation.’
“In July 2020, Anders Tegnell, in charge of Sweden's COVID response, said he did not mandate masks because they are unscientific and provide false reassurance, which might actually increase the spread of COVID-19. He was fiercely criticized. But he was simply reporting the evidence; his critics were appealing to emotions.
“The same thing happened with the Cochrane Collaboration, the world’s most esteemed research organization, when it analyzed the evidence and concluded that, after dozens of randomized controlled trials there was no good evidence that masks were effective. It was lambasted by the establishment as misleading or worse.
“How does something like that happen? How does scientific consensus become ‘misinformation’ within just a few months, without any change in the actual science? How is it that institutions continue imposing mask mandates despite overwhelming evidence in the opposite direction?
“This is a gravely serious question that must be answered.”
The vast majority of doctors and medical scientists share the same views as Dr. Bhattacharya.
Dr. Simone Gold: “Masks are irrelevant for stopping a virus. Viruses are 1000x smaller than a hair, and 50x smaller than a bacteria. It’s like saying a chain-link fence can stop a mosquito.”
Dr. Paul Alexander: “Current evidence implies that face masks can be actually harmful. The body of evidence indicates that face masks are largely ineffective.”
“How Dangerous Are Masks for Children? VERY!”
Studies and Experts’ Reports of Findings
“New Study Confirms Harms of Masking Children. A new study delves into the side effects of masking, a subject completely ignored by experts and politicians desperate to exert control over individual behavior.”
“Masks and respirators do not work. There have been extensive randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies, and meta-analysis reviews of RCT studies, which all show that masks and respirators do not work to prevent respiratory influenza-like illnesses, or respiratory illnesses believed to be transmitted by droplets and aerosol particles.” - Denis Rancourt, physicist w/specialty in nanoparticles
Cochran Review: “The pooled results of RCTs did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks. There were no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators in healthcare workers when used in routine care to reduce respiratory viral infection.”
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full
Dr. Vinay Prasad: “The Cochrane Review on Masks is damning. Masks have no good data to support them. It is a religion, not a science. The science did not change. Public health experts started lying. We never had good data that mask mandates help, or that mask advice (a softer policy) improves outcomes. Yet it was widely pushed— most likely to distract from true federal failures.”
Dr. Paul Alexander: “Masking Children: Tragic, Unscientific, and Damaging.”
https://www.aier.org/article/masking-children-tragic-unscientific-and-damaging/
Dr. Mark Sircus: “In Germany, the association of “Kinder f.Weltfrieden eV” commissioned a laboratory analysis to investigate the level of microbial contamination that results after a child wears a fresh mask for 6-8 hours in school. What they found was alarming to all those recommending we mask our children for several hours every day. The masks were found to be contaminated with 82 bacterial colonies and 4 mold colonies. Where do you think the bacteria, molds, and viruses progressively colonizing and growing on the warm moist mask-mouth interface end up? In more than 50% of cases, a fungal infection will end in death.
It’s challenging to diagnose, and fungus infections are often detected either too late, not at all, or treated inappropriately.”
Dr. Byram Bridle: “Stop masking children! They need to react with the microbial world. Throughout the declared covid-19 pandemic I have been pleading for policy-makers and health care professionals to stop using children as shields in what is ultimately an adult battle over poorly practiced science.”
“Carbon dioxide rises beyond acceptable safety levels in children under nose and mouth covering.”
Stanford Study: “Facemasks are Ineffective in Blocking Transmission of COVID and Actually Can Cause Health Deterioration and Premature Death.”
Review of 14 Mask Studies: “The CDC’s, U.K.’s, and WHO’s earlier guidance was much more consistent with the best medical research on masks’ effectiveness in preventing the spread of viruses. That research suggests that Americans’ many months of mask-wearing has likely provided little to no health benefit and might even have been counterproductive in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.”
Dr. Margarita Griesz-Brisson: “Masks cause oxygen deprivation and permanent neurological damage, especially in the developing brains of children.”
Canadian review of 11 systematic reviews and 18 RCTs: Synthesis: “Overall, the use of masks in the community did not reduce the risk of influenza, confirmed viral respiratory infection, influenzalike illness, or any clinical respiratory infection.”
Dr. Joseph Mercola: “COVID lockdowns altered kids’ gut microbiomes. That’s a problem. Children who aren’t exposed to germs on a regular basis have different microbiomes than those who are. Exposure to nonpathogenic microorganisms train the immune system to function normally and not react excessively or unnecessarily.”
“Stiftung Warentest, one of Germany’s largest consumer organizations, has found that FFP2 masks, very similar to N95 masks in the U.S., are harmful for children.”
Dr. Paul Alexander: “Covid face masks overall body of evidenceDecember 2023: evidence showing total lack of effectivess, failure of mask mandates and the harms/toxicity of COVID face masks; they were NEVER ever effective.” (Several mask studies are cited in this article.)
Dr. Marty Makary: “We have been encouraging Americans to wear masks since the beginning of the pandemic. But special attention should be paid to the many children who struggle with masks. Public-health officials claim to base their decisions and guidance on science, but there’s no science behind mask mandates for children.”
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya: “Children have developmental needs that require them to see other people’s faces. Learning to speak, for instance, requires seeing lips move. For slightly older children, they need to see people, the body, they learn body language, how to interact socially, by watching people. And when you ask them to wear a mask, you sort of cut that out. So you have harms on one side, and very little benefit on the other.”
CDC Website, May 2020 study published in Emerging Infectious Diseases did a systematic review of 10 RCT’s on masks from 1946-2018: “In pooled analysis, we found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks…either when worn by the infected person for source control or when worn by uninfected persons to reduce exposure.”
Dr. James Meehan: “I’m seeing patients that have facial rashes, fungal infections, bacterial infections. Reports coming from my colleagues, all over the world, are suggesting that the bacterial pneumonias are on the rise. New research is showing that cloth masks may be increasing the aerosolization of the SARS-COV-2 virus into the environment causing an increased transmission of the disease. In February and March we were told not to wear masks. What changed? The science didn’t change. The politics did. This is about compliance. It’s not about science… Our opposition is using low-level retrospective observational studies that should not be the basis for making a medical decision of this nature.”
12 Graphs Show Mask Mandates Do Nothing To Stop COVID:
Dr. Mark McDonald cited an Aug. 11 study by Brown University: “Children born during the pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born pre-pandemic. The masks, “Zoom schools,” and lockdown mandates have led to deprivation overall, of social contact, [of] not being able to see faces, being stuck at home all day long, [and this] has actually caused brain damage to the youngsters.”
Professor Carl Heneghan, the director of Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, cited evidence that pandemic restrictions and the “fear we instill into children” has led to the worsening of psychological problems.
Dr. Mark Sircus: “We have to stop that deadly virus that is so incredibly virulent that, according to the CDC, 99.8% of those exposed to it survive. Wear your masks is the order of the day, but along the way, many, including the Surgeon General of the United States, have said it is a waste of time.”
The Most Masked European Countries Have the Biggest Coronavirus Surges:
A major study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine found no statistically significant difference in COVID-19 cases between mask-wearers and non-mask-wearers.
Dr. Pascal Sacré: “Continuous Wearing of Mask Aggravates Risk of Infection. Psychological Terrorism?”
Drs. Ambarish Chandra and Tracy Beth Høeg: “Replicating the CDC study shows similar results; however, incorporating a larger sample and longer period showed no significant relationship between mask mandates and case rates. School districts that choose to mandate masks are likely to be systematically different from those that do not in multiple, often unobserved, ways. We failed to establish a relationship between school masking and pediatric cases.”
Dr. Paul Alexander: “Masks for children: the evidence indicates that COVID-19 blue surgical face masks and white and man-made cloth masks are (were) ineffective and actually dangerous for our children.”
“Here are key anchor points to the extensive scientific literature that establishes that wearing surgical masks and respirators (e.g., “N95”) does not reduce the risk of contracting a verified illness:”
“Use of surgical face masks to reduce the incidence of the common cold among health care workers in Japan: A randomized controlled trial.” - American Journal of Infection Control, Jacobs, J. L. et al.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19216002
“Face masks to prevent transmission of influenza virus: A systematic review.” - Epidemiology and Infection, Cowling, B. et al.
“The use of masks and respirators to prevent transmission of influenza: a systematic review of the scientific evidence.” - bin-Reza et al.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1750-2659.2011.00307.x
“Effectiveness of N95 respirators versus surgical masks in protecting health care workers from acute respiratory infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” - Smith, J.D. et al.
https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/8/567
“Effectiveness of Masks and Respirators Against Respiratory Infections in Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” - Clinical Infectious Diseases, Offeddu, V. et al.
https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cix681
“N95 Respirators vs Medical Masks for Preventing Influenza Among Health Care Personnel: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” - JAMA, Radonovich, L.J. et al.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2749214
“Effectiveness of N95 respirators versus surgical masks against influenza: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” - Journal of Evidence Based Medicine, Long, Y. et al.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jebm.12381
75 Studies and Articles Against COVID-19 School Closures
“A public health warning: The dangers of long-term mask use.”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/the-dangers-of-masks/?utm_source=lifefacts
https://expose-news.com/2022/09/02/face-masks-contain-toxic-titanium-dioxide/
Drs. Walach, Traindl, Prentice, Weikl, Diemer, Kappes and Hockertzg: “Carbon dioxide rises beyond acceptable safety levels in children under nose and mouth covering: Results of an experimental measurement study in healthy children.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9142210/
Dr. Robert Malone: “Systemic Harms to our Children. Carbon dioxide rises beyond acceptable safety levels in children under nose and mouth covering: Results of an experimental measurement study in healthy children.”
Dr. Joseph Mercola: “How Masks Make You Sick Instead of Protecting You”
“Documents recently obtained from the National Institutes of Health suggest public health officials used inaccurate information and misrepresented medical research to advance their policy objective that masks prevent severe COVID-19 and virus transmission - despite opposing scientific evidence received from experts. In a recently obtained letter (pdf) sent in November 2021 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), top epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and seven colleagues informed the agency it was promoting flawed data and excluding data that did not reinforce their narrative.”
“MASK TOXICITY - 4 studies document toxic materials in masks that leach out - heavy metals, organic chemicals (plasticizers & solvents), microplastics & microfibers, free radicals - many carcinogenic!”
“MASK HARM - Children are being harmed by masks! New CDC Report (July 2023) warns Developmental disabilities are up 17% in kids 3-17. Research shows 23% drop in young children's IQ, 30% drop in verbal!”
Dr. Jennifer Brown: “Oh those lovely N95 masks……not only do they trap bacteria, but the toxic volatile organic compounds in them can cause cancer and seizures.”
Dr. Robert Malone: “Putting N95s on children fits the definition of child abuse. A recent paper published, titled “Possible toxicity of chronic carbon dioxide exposure associated with face mask use, particularly in pregnan women, children and adolescents - A scoping review (Heliyon 2023 Apr;9(4):Epub 2023 Mar 3) had this this to say about toxicities associated with mask use for children and pregnant women:
Conclusions:
A significant rise in carbon dioxide occurring while wearing a mask is scientifically proven in many studies, especially for N95-masks due to their higher deadspace and breathing resistance.
Fresh air has around 0.04% CO2 while masks bear a possible chronic exposure to low level carbon dioxide of 1.41–3.2% CO2 of the inhaled air in reliable human experiments.
“German study: Possible toxicity of chronic carbon dioxide exposure associated with face mask use, particularly in pregnant women, children and adolescents - A scoping review”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37057051/