In an article by some teacher at Columbia in the NY Times the author attacks the initial assertions of the Cochrane Report on masks having arguable efficacy in Covid. The author notes:
The debate over masks’ effectiveness in fighting the spread of the coronavirus intensified recently when a respected scientific nonprofit said its review of studies assessing measures to impede the spread of viral illnesses found it was “uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses.” Now the organization, Cochrane, says that the way it summarized the review was unclear and imprecise, and that the way some people interpreted it was wrong. “Many commentators have claimed that a recently updated Cochrane review shows that ‘masks don’t work,’ which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation,” Karla Soares-Weiser, the editor in chief of the Cochrane Library, said in a statement. “The review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses,” Soares-Weiser said, adding, “Given the limitations in the primary evidence, the review is not able to address the question of whether mask wearing itself reduces people’s risk of contracting or spreading respiratory viruses.” She said that “this wording was open to misinterpretation, for which we apologize,” and that Cochrane would revise the summary.
The author concludes:
Masks are a tool, not a talisman or a magic wand. They have a role to play when used appropriately and consistently at the right times. They should not be dismissed or demonized.
Regrettably this teacher of information policy, an area I often see as less science and more politics, misses some truly fundamental scientific issues. We have for the past three years addressed these issues. Some are:
1. We really do not know how this virus spreads. The virion is minuscule and it may be in aerosols and aerosol science is extremely complex.
2. The spike protein seems to be the means of attachment yet it mutates at a phenomenal rate. Thus from the early days of alveoli attachment to the more recent nasal attachments we still wonder how this thing infects.
3. Do masks work? I trust my Lab mask which is an inhalator and with it I can work to Level 2. Yet this virus may even find a way around that.
4. There have been no real trials. Thus conclusions are at best based upon some sort of self reporting.
5. I spent last Monday at Weill Cornell. Masks required. I watched hundreds of patients. Loose masks, noses not covered, those blue paper masks are useless, not a single N95 etc.
Thus based on facts the efficacy of masks is still way up in the air. It is a talisman.
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