How the Cochrane Review went wrong. Report questioning COVID masks blows up, prompts apology

[swag]

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/03/10/how-the-cochrane-review-went-wrong-report-questioning-covid-masks-blows-up-prompts-apology.html

By Alex BoydStaff Reporter
Fri., March 10, 2023timer5 min. read

The Cochrane Review has apologized for an evidence review that led many to conclude, inaccurately, that masks don’t work.

The idea that masks don’t help slow COVID is an “inaccurate and misleading interpretation” of the report they published in January, Karla Soares-Weiser, editor-in-chief of the Cochrane Library, wrote in an update posted to the their website on Friday. The international organization publishes summaries of evidence on various health topics, and are now blaming a poorly-worded summary of one report for the fact that many people came away with the idea that the face coverings don’t help.

Their analysis was based on a dozen studies that compared people wearing medical masks to their barefaced counterparts, couched inside a broader look at physical pandemic measures. Despite a line cautioning that the shakiness of the data “hampers drawing firm conclusions,” the authors concluded that masking in the community made “little to no difference.”

It was that second part that spread like wildfire, heralded in some circles as a major advance in the increasingly politicized fight over wearing masks. That particular quote — “little to no difference” — was picked up by some news outlets around the world.

Online, some people already aggrieved by pandemic restrictions took it one step further, arguing that it was just further proof that the pandemic response had been based on shaky science.

. . . more

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Here's Why the Science Is Clear That Masks Work

This study shows that masks work

Link to tweet

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/opinion/masks-work-cochrane-study.html?unlocked_article_code=FH-hfGqGGESEjVtmzQtG0HyN_bKNtpLnTpMRzuMZ0IDGWx3mM6sYXTKcOHrv28WBukHFuq6zX5FPuetlLWqLxZQ2fhbEGc7mJaqcG47WgZ3zXOyjyvUlitHS3qoybv8sqmfgHwebr2fpm4V0EwRMtdEjohCQjYGu4mqcehKTD1fxJARrUTb_zkBlDsogj3Nnu7lOuzHWC_BDFYMOX7NSEinooYFn7bhgqDnmqtdf1A9LLBI4t2bpoA7F2NQUGQqcsy9X817svs3nm5OLp9ufWc69tYUyplVInJsV8Ja7SgygK0kx2vGl2BVZH-coYIN248UTb36RwTVqlDQzlNrt7lSISg&smid=tw-share

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.”......

“Mask mandates, social distancing, the other shutdowns we had in terms of even restaurants and things like that — if places like New York City didn’t do that, the number of deaths would have been much higher,” he told me. “I’m very confident of that statement.”

So the evidence is relatively straightforward: Consistently wearing a mask, preferably a high-quality, well-fitting one, provides protection against the coronavirus.