What? COVID face masks increase risk of COVID infection? We knew this 3 years now that mask mandates increased infection risk, now a Cross-sectional study (Elgersma et al.) shows this AGAIN! Not an

optimal randomized controlled trial that could remove selection bias & adjust for differences in mask wearing behavior, but important results enough to add to body of evidence that masks are failure!

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/0525AD535D10FDCDF0C52603B50E7A1E/S0950268823001826a.pdf/association-between-face-mask-use-and-risk-of-sars-cov-2-infection-cross-sectional-study.pdf

Cross-sectional and self-reported data and thus a far weaker research design but enough to inform the evidence base. I would interpret these observational cross-sectional results with caution given the risk of both known and unknown confounders not optimally adjusted for. However, the bottom line is that these results gel with the larger body of evidence showing that these COVID face masks were largely ineffective and even harmful. These findings, though plagued with sub-optimal research methods, are useful.

‘The main findings are summarized in Table 2.

The crude estimates show a higher incidence of testing positive for COVID-19 in the groups that used face masks more frequently, with 8.6% of participants who never or almost never used masks, 15.0% of participants who sometimes used masks, and 15.1% of participants who almost always or always used masks reporting a positive test result. The risk was (1.38 to 2.18) times higher in those who wore face masks often or sometimes and (1.39 to 2.21) times higher in those who wore face masks almost always or always, compared to participants who reported never or almost never wore masks (reference group).’

See also my supportive review here that showed the ineffectiveness of COVID face masks (surgical and otherwise) and even harms:

https://brownstone.org/articles/studies-and-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/

‘It is not unreasonable to conclude that surgical and cloth masks, used as they currently are being used (without other forms of PPE protection), have no impact on controlling the transmission of Covid-19 virus. Current evidence implies that face masks can be actually harmful. The body of evidence indicates that face masks are largely ineffective. 

My focus is on COVID face masks and the prevailing science that we have had for nearly 20 months. Yet I wish to address this mask topic at a 50,000-foot level on the lockdown restrictive policies in general. I build on the backs of the fine work done by Gupta, Kulldorff, and Bhattacharya on the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) and similar impetus by Dr. Scott Atlas (advisor to POTUS Trump) who, like myself, was a strong proponent for a focused type of protection that was based on an age-risk stratified approach. 

Because we saw very early on that the lockdowns were the single greatest mistake in public health history. We knew the history and knew they would not work. We also knew very early of COVID’s risk stratification. Sadly, our children will bear the catastrophic consequences and not just educationally, of the deeply flawed school closure policy for decades to come (particularly our minority children who were least able to afford this). Many are still pressured to wear masks and punished for not doing so.

I present the masking ‘body of evidence’ below (n=167 studies and pieces of evidence), comprised of comparative effectiveness research as well as related evidence and high-level reporting. To date, the evidence has been stable and clear that masks do not work to control the virus and they can be harmful and especially to children.’