Danish study shows mask use generally ineffective in reducing the spread of Covid

Wearing a mask reduces risk of infection by 0.3 % 

About 4,860 participants completed the study. The researchers had hoped that masks would cut the infection rate by half among wearers. Instead, 42 people in the mask group, or 1.8 percent, got infected, compared with 53 in the unmasked group, or 2.1 percent. The difference was not statistically significant.

A couple of things things to note. First, the Danish group had a hard time getting anyone to publish their study. Not because there was anything scientifically or statistically wrong with the study. Just because certain people don't like rocking the boat on conventional wisdom. In other words, the study was being "censored" just as so many other inconvenient facts are "censored" in 2020.

So secondly, this study is actually several weeks old and only now have they been able to share their results with the general public. The results are not encouraging.  The reality is that there has been no real studies that show mask wearing is the silver bullet that our leaders suggest it is, and this study represents the largest randomly controlled study on the subject so far. 

I find it hard to understand why such a study has to be hidden from public view, especially in America where we are supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. But new conventional wisdom in liberal circles is that we all must "lay down" and accept what our elected leadership (politicians) tell us. While many of these leaders will continue to pretend that they are "listening to science" they are simply listening to the "opinions" of certain "experts" while discounting the "opinions" of other "experts. Listening to "experts" is not "listening to science" when there is no scientific consensus between the "experts". 

The issue right now is that we are entering "cold and flu" season. Since the common cold is actually a coronavirus, it would make sense that Covid-19 will start to flair up as well. There is 99.9999% factual reason to believe that the recent surge is 99.9999% tied to the change in weather in the upper midwest and great lakes area that has been seeing the huge surge in infections. The fact that winter has come early here in the upper midwest probably makes matters worse. 

On the flip side, there is almost no reason to believe that the recent surge has come because of the poor behavior of Americans. The surge seems to not care to what degree your state is in lockdown or mandates, but rather has been working it's way through a variety of areas where the weather has been changing. Which means that heavy handed politicians telling blaming the general public for the surge and demanding that we cower to new regulations and mandates, is not logical or likely very helpful. 

When a politician starts to lock things down or starts to shut down parts of the economy in the name of safety, we know 100% for sure that there will be negative effects. We will see negative financial effects, more mental health issues, an increase in other physical health issues, and ultimately even a rise in suicides. We also know that we will see more domestic violence, more divorce, more crime, and more social unrest. Our leadership demands we put up with this on the off-chance that Covid can be contained by these mandates (when there seems to be little or no statistical evidence that it can be).  

I wish that our leaders really did "listen to science" or at least listen to common sense. But alas, that is not what we have in 2020.