Dec 5, 2024 06:23 PM
The Gratuitous, Endless Mask Debate (ACSH)
https://www.acsh.org/news/2024/12/03/gra...dits-49137
INTRO: There is overwhelming evidence that high-quality masks reduce the spread of aerosol-spread infectious diseases, including COVID-19. The folks at City Journal must not be aware of the Rule of Holes, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” Their contributors continue to make insupportable, easily disproved claims about the supposed lack of effectiveness of masks to prevent COVID-19.
Contributing editor John Tierney, unfazed by a thorough debunking of his first set of claims in February 2023 that masks don’t work to prevent COVID-19 infections, delivered yet another inaccurate, misleading rant six months later. In the latter article, he presented – or I should say, misrepresented -- various studies and cherry-picked others. I responded in print to that article as well, discussing his errors at length... (MORE - details)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No Masks, Please, We’re Rational (City Journal)
https://www.city-journal.org/article/no-...e-rational
INTRO: Unfazed by data, scientific research, or common sense, the maskaholics are back. In response to an uptick in Covid cases, they’ve begun reinstating mask mandates. So far, it’s just a few places—a college in Atlanta, a Hollywood studio, two hospitals in Syracuse—but the mainstream media and their favorite “experts” are working hard to scare the rest of us into masking up yet again.
Never mind that at least 97 percent of Americans have Covid antibodies in their blood as a result of infection, vaccination, or both. Never mind that actual experts—the ones who studied the scientific literature before 2020 and drew up plans for a pandemic—advised against masking the public. Never mind that their advice has been further bolstered during the pandemic by randomized clinical trials and rigorous observational studies failing to find an effect of masks and mask mandates. Scientific evidence cannot overcome the maskaholics’ faith.
It’s tempting to compare them with the villagers in Cambodia who erected scarecrows in front of their huts to ward off the coronavirus—but that’s not fair to the villagers... (MORE - details)
https://www.acsh.org/news/2024/12/03/gra...dits-49137
INTRO: There is overwhelming evidence that high-quality masks reduce the spread of aerosol-spread infectious diseases, including COVID-19. The folks at City Journal must not be aware of the Rule of Holes, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” Their contributors continue to make insupportable, easily disproved claims about the supposed lack of effectiveness of masks to prevent COVID-19.
Contributing editor John Tierney, unfazed by a thorough debunking of his first set of claims in February 2023 that masks don’t work to prevent COVID-19 infections, delivered yet another inaccurate, misleading rant six months later. In the latter article, he presented – or I should say, misrepresented -- various studies and cherry-picked others. I responded in print to that article as well, discussing his errors at length... (MORE - details)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No Masks, Please, We’re Rational (City Journal)
https://www.city-journal.org/article/no-...e-rational
INTRO: Unfazed by data, scientific research, or common sense, the maskaholics are back. In response to an uptick in Covid cases, they’ve begun reinstating mask mandates. So far, it’s just a few places—a college in Atlanta, a Hollywood studio, two hospitals in Syracuse—but the mainstream media and their favorite “experts” are working hard to scare the rest of us into masking up yet again.
Never mind that at least 97 percent of Americans have Covid antibodies in their blood as a result of infection, vaccination, or both. Never mind that actual experts—the ones who studied the scientific literature before 2020 and drew up plans for a pandemic—advised against masking the public. Never mind that their advice has been further bolstered during the pandemic by randomized clinical trials and rigorous observational studies failing to find an effect of masks and mask mandates. Scientific evidence cannot overcome the maskaholics’ faith.
It’s tempting to compare them with the villagers in Cambodia who erected scarecrows in front of their huts to ward off the coronavirus—but that’s not fair to the villagers... (MORE - details)