I warn my students about stories that are accurate but not true. Bret Stephens' anti-mask screed today is a good example of that — and what makes it accurate is a brief aside that he buries in order to cover his sorry ass. #journalism #covid My Media Nation post: https://dankennedy.net/2023/02/22/bret-stephens-wants-you-to-misunderstand-an-easily-misunderstood-report-on-masking/
Sorry -- I needed to retract my earlier comment about the absence of COVID studies and the college dorm study being the main one; I had gotten something mixed up with the earlier version of the report (2020)
But I did check the updated report (Jan 2023) and see that both of the COVID studies included in the test of surgical masks showed that these masks did have a protective effect (Abaluck and Bungaard: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/references#CD006207-fig-0005). The 'negative results' are completely from flu studies.
A few studies can be highlighted based on the weight given in the meta-analysis -- none of the main studies cover situations similar to American-style mask mandates (whether institutional or general), nor to the masking behavior of the 'covid cautious' in the US.
#covid #masking #journalism
