A sign of the times at many businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. (Photo by Joe Kovacs)
State mask mandates did not help slow the spread of COVID-19, according to a news study by the Univesity of Louisville.
The study, based on CDC data covering multiple seasons, pointed out that 80% of U.S. states mandated masks during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Townhall reported
While “mandates induced greater mask compliance,” the researchers said, the mandates and the use of masks “are not associated with lower SARS-CoV-2 spread among US states.”
“Our findings do not support the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 transmission rates decrease with greater public mask use,” the report said.
The researchers found that “masks may promote social cohesion as rallying symbols during a pandemic, but risk compensation can also occur.”
Among the risks:
- Prolonged mask use, more than four hours a day,
“promotes facial alkalinization and inadvertently encourages dehydration, which in turn can enhance barrier breakdown and bacterial infection risk.” - British clinicians have reported masks to increase headaches and sweating and decrease cognitive precision.
- By obscuring nonverbal communication, masks interfere with social learning in children.
- Likewise, masks can distort verbal speech and remove visual cues to the detriment of individuals with hearing loss.
The Louisville study found that the growth of COVID cases “was independent of mandates at low and high rates of community spread, and mask use did not predict case growth during the Summer or Fall-Winter waves.”
Are masks effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19?
2% (11 Votes)
98% (450 Votes)
The researchers noted they used two mask metrics to evaluate association with COVID-19 growth rates.
Read full story here: Source: Study shows masks did not slow spread of coronavirus