I talked about the latest mask review earlier, and here’s another link to the actual study.

The Brownstone Institute published an interview with Tom Jefferson, one of the authors of the study. It’s a quick read, and very enlightening. A couple of things that jumped out at me:

  • To say that “Masks Don’t Work” overstates reality. A more correct phrasing would be “there is no evidence that masks stop respiratory disease transmisson”. The data just isn’t there despite all of the “studies”.
  • I was under the assumption aerosol transmission of the COVID virus was “settled science”. It is not:

The idea that the covid virus is transmitted via aerosols has been repeated over and over as if it’s “truth” but the evidence is as thin as air. It’s complex and all journalists want 40 years of experience condensed into two sentences.

On the Mask Study: An Interview with the Author

And then there is this:

… please do not call me an expert. I’m a guy who has worked in the field for some time. That has to be the message. I don’t work with models, I don’t make predictions. I don’t hassle people or chase them on social media. I don’t call them names… I’m a scientist. I work with data.

On the Mask Study: An Interview with the Author

In summary, regarding mask efficacy, the data just isn’t there. Wear one if you like, but mandates are no longer on the table.