For some reason, a few MAGAts got tired of buffing their muskets and decided to weigh in on scientific matters that they don’t understand. Don’t be too hard on them — many journalists are clueless, too, which is why so many reported that a recently released meta-analysis concluded “masks don’t work.”
That’s not what the meta-analysis — a study that combines the results of many studies — actually said. As this Los Angeles Times article points out, it cautioned, “The high risk of bias in the trials, variation in outcome measurement, and relatively low adherence with the interventions during the studies hampers drawing firm conclusions.” It also notes,
[T]he two studies in the meta-analysis that actually measured the effect of mask mandates in the COVID-19 pandemic, from Bangladesh and Denmark, showed that mask mandates did reduce infections and the spread of the virus —- quite the opposite of a conclusion that they “did nothing.”
It was easy to tell the visiting carrot-waxers don’t know dick about science, because they wanted to pat themselves on the back for “knowing” that masks were useless back when mask mandates were ordered. (I also enjoyed the one from the guy who knows lots of scientists, and they all agreed with him. Uh, dude, that’s a pretty obvious tell that you need to meet more scientists than the ones at your local GOP meetings.)
Here’s the straight scoop: Masks work in a lab. In practice they don’t work as well, but it’s because of the wearers, not the masks.
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/do-masks-work
Tl;dr version: “The scientific arc of mask discovery is ongoing. Science is always evolving. Do not let anyone convince you of a one word answer to the question: Do masks work? It depends.”