Canadian Society
for Science & Ethics in Medicine
To mask or not to mask ... what is the science?
The definitive review? Usually considered to be so!
Masks do not prevent the spread of respiratory viruses.
Jefferson T, Dooley L, Ferroni E, Al-Ansary LA, van Driel ML, Bawazeer GA, Jones MA, Hoffmann TC, Clark J, Beller EM, Glasziou PP, Conly JM. Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2023, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD006207. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6. Accessed 13 February 2023.
By Steven Pelech, PhD and John Hardie, BDS, MSc, PhD, FRCDC
The use of facial coverings to prevent transmission and infection with SARS-CoV-2 has been highly controversial. Drs John Hardie and Steven Pelech have provided a detailed analysis of the evidence regarding their use as a nonpharmaceutical intervention for infection control and their potential physiological and psychological harms. Click here for the full article.
Even Anthony Fauci ("I am science.") admits that there is "less strong" evidence for believing that masks have any benefit on a population basis for limiting the spread of the COVID-19 virus during the pandemic. He believes they still work for individuals, though.
See the full article in Newsweek, Sept, 3, 2023, written by Aleks Phillips.
By Josh Stevensen, April 21, 2022
By Paul Elias Alexander, December 20, 2021
People Rarely Transmit COVID-19 Before Experiencing Symptoms: Lancet Study*
From the article**: "... we found that most virus was emitted during the symptomatic period, with only 10% of emissions occurring before the first reported symptom." ... "LFTs [Rapid Antigen Testing of swabs from nose or throat] effectively detected the contagious period. Thus, for healthy individuals with mild infections in the community, awareness of early symptoms prompting daily self-testing by LFT could be a valuable tool to avert community transmission."
* Read the article in THE EPOCH TIMES.
By Tim Ozemek, September 2, 2023.
** Read the article in THE LANCET Microbe.
By Zhou et al., August 2023.
