A major new peer-reviewed study has concluded that face masks have played a key role in the spread of Covid infections.
The cross-sectional study, titled “Association between Face Mask Use and Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection,” was conducted by a team of Norwegian researchers.
According to the paper, published in the renowned British Cambridge University journal, the researchers conducted an “observational study that analyses data from a population, or a representative subset, at a specific point in time.”
In this case, the point in time they analyzed was data from early 2022.
They examined a cross-section of data for people who reported testing positive for Covid and revealed how often they wore a mask.
The data was taken from an earlier study where researchers sought to determine whether wearing glasses reduced to chance of becoming infected.
During the earlier study, participants noted how often they wore masks and recorded their positive Covid tests.
The researchers explain:
“We examined the association between face masks and the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 using cross-sectional data from 3,209 participants in a randomized trial of using glasses to reduce the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2.
“Face mask use was based on participants’ responses to the end-of-follow-up survey.
“We found that the incidence of self-reported COVID-19 was 33% (aRR 1.33; 95% CI 1.03 – 1.72) higher in those wearing face masks often or sometimes, and 40% (aRR 1.40; 95% CI 1.08 – 1.82) higher in those wearing face masks almost always or always, compared to participants who reported wearing face masks never or almost never.”
These are the results after controlling for observable confounders.
In the raw data, regular mask-wearers had a 74-75% higher risk of testing positive for Covid.
“The crude estimates show a higher incidence of testing positive for COVID-19 in the groups that used face masks more frequently, with 8.6% of participants who never or almost never used masks, 15.0% of participants who sometimes used masks, and 15.1% of participants who almost always or always used masks reporting a positive test result,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
“The risk was 1.74 (1.38 to 2.18) times higher in those who wore face masks often or sometimes and 1.75 (1.39 to 2.21) times higher in those who wore face masks almost always or always, compared to participants who reported never or almost never wore masks.”
According to the data, higher cases of Covid were reported among those who wore masks more often.
However, governments worldwide forced people to wear masks on the basis of observational studies that were far less credible than this one.
