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Top line
A Covid-19 study conducted in Denmark and published in Annals of internal medicine created a heated social media discourse as some said the study showed the masks were ineffective in preventing Covid-19 transmission, while health experts – including the lead researcher behind the study – disagreed.
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Main aspects
The study, written by a group of cardiologists in Denmark, studied about 6,000 participants in Denmark, half of whom were told to wear masks and half of whom were not.
The authors found that 42 of the participants who were told to wear masks contracted Covid-19, while 53 of the participants in the control group contracted the disease, a difference they said was not statistically significant.
The study did not examine whether the masks prevented people infected with Covid-19 from infecting other people.
Some politically conservative voices on social media have touted this study as proof that the masks will not stop the spread of Covid-19.
However, the experts quickly pointed out that the study has many limitations, including low compliance (many people did not complete the study and a high percentage of people who should have worn masks did not) and that it took place in a population in spread of Covid-19 was already low.
Several studies have found that mask use has a big impact on Covid-19, including an October one that found that areas of Tennessee requiring masks had lower hospitalization rates than areas that don’t.
Crucial quote
Although the study found little evidence that masks protected wearers from Covid-19, it shouldn’t be used as evidence for not wearing a mask. “Even a small degree of protection is worth using face masks,” says Dr. Henning Bundgaard, professor of cardiology at Rigshospitalet in Denmark and lead author of the study, “because you are protecting yourself from a potentially life-threatening disease.”
Chief critic
Dr. Tom Friedan, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), wrote a response to the study that was also published in Annals of internal medicine. In it, he pointed out that, among other limitations, the study authors used antibody tests to diagnose cases of Covid-19 that could have led to a significant number of false positives. Also, the authors made no effort to ensure that people who were told to wear masks wore them correctly or at all times. Bundgaard replies that the compliance rate was still “significantly better” in the study than in the normal company. He agreed that it was possible that the antibody tests could lead to false positives, but “that risk is in both groups, and that would probably compensate for it.”
Key background
Dr. Christine Laine, an internal medicine physician and chief editor of Annals of internal medicine, says the study did a good job of answering a very specific question: whether or not face masks protect carriers from SARS-CoV-2 infection in areas with low infection rates and high levels of social distance . “It didn’t answer the question of whether diffuse masking mitigates SARS-CoV-2 infection,” he says, adding that while there were concerns about the misinterpretation, the editors agreed that publication of this study was important because is “the only randomized control study of masks for SARS-CoV-2 infection that has been done to date … this was an important and well-designed study.”
Tangent
Earlier this month, the CDC updated its mask guidelines to say that masks, including cloth masks, are important to wear because they not only prevent the spread of droplets if someone is infected with Covid-19, but they can also protect the wearer. mask from the virus. The organization wrote that the materials of the cloth masks could help protect the wearer by filtering infectious droplets, although much of this evidence comes from laboratory simulations and not real-world studies. Discussing preventing the spread of the disease, Bundgaard points out that “the face mask is part of it, but it’s not there [whole] solution. ”He says people should still practice regular hand washing and social distancing to control the spread of Covid-19.
Big number
70%: This is how much wearing a mask reduces the risk of Covid-19 transmission, according to studies in the United States and Thailand.
Surprising fact
A national mask mandate could save the U.S. economy by up to $ 1 trillion, according to research by Goldman Sachs
Further reading
A new study asks whether masks protect wearers. You have to wear them anyway ( New York Times)
Face masks could prevent 50 million cases of Covid-19 in the United States (Forbes)
Areas with mask requirements have a lower Covid-19 hospitalization rate, the results of the studies (Forbes)
Wearing a mask is a sign of mutual respect during the coronavirus pandemic (Forbes)
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