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Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

med.stanford.edu

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Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#61

Post by stolenmerch »

majormajor wrote: post #11
ch4s3 wrote: post #3

> There were significantly fewer COVID-19 cases in villages with surgical masks compared with the control villages. (Although there were also fewer COVID-19 cases in villages with cloth masks as compared to control villages, the difference was not statistically significant.) This aligns with lab tests showing that surgical masks have better filtration than cloth masks. However, cloth masks did reduce the overall like…

It's surprising to me that cloth masks can't even do the 11% of surgical masks. Which isn't much, but surgical masks are non-optimal for many reasons. Not to mention that this doesn't seem the same as "while wearing a surgical mask you only get 11% increase in protection" but is a population-level thing. There was still non-compliance that presumably lowered the efficacy. I would've intuitively guessed that the bette…

> The great incoherent idiocy of anti-* Americans on the issue of masks has always been that they say "cloth masks are ineffective" and propose a solution of "do nothing" instead of "get effective masks."

I think the "no nothing" solution has more to do with a desire to return to normal than it is a refusal to "get effective masks" and just wear them forever or until some agency says not to anymore. There is a valid point to be made that once you're vaccinated and most people around you are vaccinated it's time to start learning to live with the reality of covid being a mild disease you get once in a while. I suppose a masked up future is one of better public health for some, but for many it is psychologically exhausting to see your friends and coworkers as potentially dangerous vectors of contamination. This is especially dystopian when the government forces you to do this whether it's sensible or not.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#62

Post by timr »

GeekyBear wrote: post #36

Cloth masks are quite effective against viruses with a droplet based spread. Widespread mask use came as close to wiping out last year's Flu season as we've ever seen. >Amid COVID-19 pandemic, flu has disappeared in the US NEW YORK (AP) — February is usually the peak of flu season, with doctors’ offices and hospitals packed with suffering patients. But not this year. Nationally, “this is the lowest flu season we’ve h…

> Widespread mask use came as close to wiping out last year's Flu season as we've ever seen.

This is an assertion. It could have been the fact that nobody was traveling last year. It could have been the fact that most kids were out of school. It could have been distancing. It could have been any number of other things.

Any conclusion here is premature.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#63

Post by nradov »

GeekyBear wrote: post #36

Cloth masks are quite effective against viruses with a droplet based spread. Widespread mask use came as close to wiping out last year's Flu season as we've ever seen. >Amid COVID-19 pandemic, flu has disappeared in the US NEW YORK (AP) — February is usually the peak of flu season, with doctors’ offices and hospitals packed with suffering patients. But not this year. Nationally, “this is the lowest flu season we’ve h…

The science on mask mandates for young school children is unclear. Most European countries don't require it.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/the-science-of-maski...

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#64

Post by djrogers »

mullen wrote: post #20
exabrial wrote: post #6

This is truly great news, as we've need some controlled studies. However, _mandates_, literally threatening people with police violence, bodily or financial harm, is not the correct way forward. I think the best solution is improved mandates for airflow. It's a lot easier to improve airflow in a building than it is to police and enforce a mask mandate.

This is naive. There is a significant portion of the population that are not going to cooperated with health safety protocols unless there is a real chance of them going to jail or getting a fine. We're talking wearing a mask and saving lives.

> We're talking wearing a mask and saving lives

This study doesn’t show that - it shows a slower rate of transmission, but without vaccination, the long term infection rate will ultimately be the same.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#65

Post by rafaelero »

starik36 wrote: post #53

So am I understanding the study correctly? > Those living in villages randomly assigned to a series of interventions promoting the use of surgical masks were about 11% less likely than those living in control villages to develop COVID-19 The surgical masks are 11% more effective in preventing COVID infection than not wearing masks at all?

No, you are not interpreting it correctly. The 11% reduction is the effect of the intervention (encouraging people to use masks), which meant that the rate of people complying with the measure went from 12% (control) to 42% (intervention). The 11% refers to the effect of increasing mask use by that magnitude.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#66

Post by nivenkos »

douglasisshiny wrote: post #13
exabrial wrote: post #6

This is truly great news, as we've need some controlled studies. However, _mandates_, literally threatening people with police violence, bodily or financial harm, is not the correct way forward. I think the best solution is improved mandates for airflow. It's a lot easier to improve airflow in a building than it is to police and enforce a mask mandate.

>However, _mandates_, literally threatening people with police violence, bodily or financial harm, is not the correct way forward. Maybe I'm missing something, but is this actually a thing? Who in the mainstream proposing police violence, bodily or financial harm? The worst I've heard (in the U.S.) is that a business may not allow you to enter if you're not wearing a mask, which is well within their right and reasona…

Have you not heard of the lockdowns here in Europe?

In Spain we were forced inside for 2 months, and then forced to wear masks at all times in public - indoors and outdoors.

The police got a free pass to beat and arrest people with the excuse of masks or curfew: https://elpais.com/espana/2021-03-28/la-policia-investiga-a-...

I got banned from some subreddits just for posting that, because it's become such a political issue in the US.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#67

Post by timr »

slg wrote: post #8
chitowneats wrote: post #4

From Martin Kulldorff, esteemed (though contrarian) Harvard Med epidemiologist: "Odd that mask advocates are excited by this study. As a vaccine advocate, I would be horrified if a vaccine trial showed 11% efficacy. Based on the 95% confidence intervals, we do not even know if surgical mask efficacy is more than 0%." https://twitter.com/MartinKulldorff/status/14332026511062016...

Except that was not what was tested. Here is what they did: >No-cost free masks distribution - One-third of the intervention villages received a cloth mask and two-thirds of the intervention villages received a surgical mask[5] during household distribution and distribution at marketplaces and other public locations weekly or every fortnight. Masks were also distributed at mosques on three Fridays during the first fo…

They did all of those things, but this paper is about the effect of mask-wearing (surgical vs. cloth vs. none) on the rate of symptomatic seroprevalence in the groups. Kuldorff is right, and is just stating the top-line numbers from the paper.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#68

Post by theiz »

Quite convinced we have to prepare on getting infected some time. Covid will be around for the coming years and years. Nice that you have less chance of getting that, and then what? You can’t walk around with a mask indefinitely. Saw another report this week that links to the viral load and the impact: low viral load = no symptoms, no immunity. Medium viral load is minimal symptoms, Immunization. High viral load = serious illness (and immunity, but potentially also hospitalisation and/or long covid) Would be nice if the masks help you to get in the sweet spot.

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#69

Post by aw1621107 »

starik36 wrote: post #53

So am I understanding the study correctly? > Those living in villages randomly assigned to a series of interventions promoting the use of surgical masks were about 11% less likely than those living in control villages to develop COVID-19 The surgical masks are 11% more effective in preventing COVID infection than not wearing masks at all?

Not quite. The wording has to be parsed carefully:

> Those living in villages randomly assigned to a series of interventions promoting the use of surgical masks were about 11% less likely than those living in control villages to develop COVID-19

So it's not mask vs. maskless; it's promotion of masks vs. no such promotion.

The study [0] gives more information:

> In villages that received the intervention, mask use increased by 29 percentage points (from 13 percent in the comparison villages to 42 percent in treatment villages).

[0]: https://www.poverty-action.org/study/impact-mask-distributio...

Re: Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

#70

Post by djrogers »

barbazoo wrote: post #26
exabrial wrote: post #6

This is truly great news, as we've need some controlled studies. However, _mandates_, literally threatening people with police violence, bodily or financial harm, is not the correct way forward. I think the best solution is improved mandates for airflow. It's a lot easier to improve airflow in a building than it is to police and enforce a mask mandate.

I don't get this mindset at all. Temporarily masking up at pretty much zero impact to the user vs. upgrading all building's HVAC system.

Temporarily? In what was is any of this temporary if COVID is going to be endemic?

At some point we need a way forward, and that really shouldn’t require masks in all public settings.

BTW - masks completely destroy my beard, so they’re not ‘zero impact’ by any means. ;-)

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