Masks protection

 

Asian countries easily wear masks and were spared.

Denmark, Finland, Norway skipped masks and were spared

African countries tried to wear masks and ended up taking them off and were spared

 

Open air Music festivals and manifestations June 21^st with or without masks without any increase in cases or obervance of clusters within 14 days.

 

Significant clusters have formed in Gyms, hospitals, Slaughterhouses where masks were mandatory.

 

Previous studies, we know off that directed some governments responses were based on mathematical models or comparing heterogenous selected countries at a different stage of the epidemic. The United States provided a more homogeneous  population and the possibility to compare states that imposed masks with those that did not. It also provided an opportunity to compare before and after.

 

We found from the press the following states with a mandate with nuances as to application.

 

 

Kentucky	Entire State
West Virginia	Entire State
Texas	Entire State
Kansas	Entire State
Oregon	Entire State
Washington	Entire State
North Carolina	Entire State
Nevada	Entire State
California	Entire State
Virginia	Entire State
New Mexico	Entire State
Massachusetts	Entire State
Delaware	Entire State
Illinois	Entire State
Maine	Entire State
Michigan	Entire State
Hawaii	Entire State
Rhode Island	Entire State
Maryland	Entire State
Pennsylvania	Entire State
Connecticut	Entire State
New York	Entire State
New Jersey	Entire State

 

 

 

  We also found States at the time of the analysis that did not implement face masks

 

 

 

Iowa	No
Montana	No
Wisconsin	No
South Dakota	No

 

 

We found

 

·     The difference in the mean count of positiveIncreaase between the states that doesn’t have law on facemask use vs the states that implemented the facemask, post-regulation is highly significant as to cases increase post-mask regulation

·     Also, the difference in the mean count of positiveIncrease between the states who implemented facemask between the dates they implemented it (pre-mask dates vs post-mask dates ) is highly significant as to cases increase post-mask regulation

·     All of the conclusions above were confirmed using groupwise median count with bootstrapping.

 

Median analysis bootstrapped 5,000 replication

 

Regression Model Summary using Zero-Inflated Poisson Distribution, intercept forced to zero

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post-hoc test with Tukey Adjustment

 

 

 

 

Cases are dependent on test numbers so looking at a few examples of positivity rate change it can be observed the following comparing before and after based on data reported.

 

California

 

Texas

 

 

 

 

Masks enforcement has been guided by increases in cases and modeling tecniques projecting on small sample experimentations as well as a need for action. These findings are consistent with similar observations that can be made in Spain and France where case counts an positivity rates have increased significantly since laws extending use of facemasks in Shops and open air.

 

These findings hint towards facemasks failing to slow spread of contamination but may turn out to favor herd immunity as contamination seems to increase in some regions. 

 

This finding comes in line with long known literature teachnig how facemasks must be used, changed, destroyed in a clinical closed setting and risks associated with other uses.

 

https://sofia.medicalistes.fr/spip/IMG/pdf/a_cluster_randomised_trial_of_cloth_masks_compared_with_medical_masks_in_healthcare_workers.pdf

« his study is the first RCT of clothmasks, and the results caution against the use of clothmasks. This is an important finding to informoccupational health and safety. Moisture retention,reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result inincreased risk of infection. Further research is neededto inform the widespread use of cloth masks globally. »

 

If goal is to pursue herd immunity, better solutions must be found as prolonged wearing of masks outside clinical settings may come with side effects, some of which are known and others to be discovered. Since mandating prolonged wearing of masks as protection or prohylaxis is a novelty, there are few studies as to harm, immediate or long term side effects. Nor are there harm benefit analysis as usually done for any intervention. So we can scratch the surface by extrapolation

 

http://medcraveonline.com/JLPRR/JLPRR-01-00021.pdf

« The discomfort level was increasing with time while wearing masks, with significantly higher magnitude in S1 (p<0.001). There is an increase of nasal resistance upon removal of N95 respirator and surgical facemask potentially due to nasal physiological changes. »

 

Some studies have been done on wearing Niqab which is not as tight as a facemask but may give us some indications as to some known side effects.

 

 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21816088/

«Very low plasma 25(OH)D levels in females wearing Hijab or Niqab are highly attributed to low sunlight or UVB exposure. »

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/244485085_Effect_of_face_veil_on_ventilator_function_among_Saudi_adult_females

« Significant negative correlation was found between the FVC and FEV1 values and the number of hours of the use of face veil per day. Conclusions: Long-term use of traditional niqab use can affect VF. » (Ventlatory function)

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11829600_The_Effect_of_Wearing_the_Veil_by_Saudi_Ladies_on_the_Occurrence_of_Respiratory_Diseases

« Respiratory infections and asthma were significantly more common in veils users (p < 0.00001 and p < 0.0003, respectively). This unexpected finding was probably secondary to infection. More and bigger studies are recommended. »

 

 

One review of litterature concluded

« In conclusion there remains a substantial gap in the scientific literature on the effectiveness of face masks to reduce transmission of influenza virus infection. While there is some experimental evidence that masks should be able to reduce infectiousness under controlled conditions [7], there is less evidence on whether this translates to effectiveness in natural settings. »

 

« Large intervention studies in healthcare and community settings are likely to provide the best evidence of the effectiveness of face masks in reducing transmission in pandemic and inter-pandemic periods... »

 

This analysis reports as to failure of masks to prevent spread in general population as conditions will always bu suboptimal, could be leading to self-contamination and side effects.