13 Studies Showing That Masks Are NOT Effective
1.) The study published by the NIH called A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers concludes that "Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection."
2.) The study published by the CDC called Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings—Personal Protective and Environmental Measures concludes that "In pooled analysis, we found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks."
3.) The study published by medRxiv called Facemasks and similar barriers to prevent respiratory illness such as COVID-19: A rapid systematic review concludes that "The evidence is not sufficiently strong to support widespread use of facemasks as a protective measure against COVID-19."
4.) The study published by the NIH called "Exercise with facemask; Are we handling a devil's sword?" - A physiological hypothesis concludes that "Further contrary to the earlier thought, no evidence exists to claim the facemasks during exercise offer additional protection from the droplet transfer of the virus."
5.) The study published by medRxiv called Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. Part 1 - Face masks, eye protection and person distancing: systematic review and meta-analysis concludes that "Compared to no masks there was no reduction of influenza-like illness or influenza for masks in the general population, nor in healthcare workers."
6.) The study published by the NIH called The use of masks and respirators to prevent transmission of influenza: a systematic review of the scientific evidence concludes that "There is a limited evidence base to support the use of masks and/or respirators in healthcare or community settings."
7.) The study published by the NIH called Use of surgical face masks to reduce the incidence of the common cold among health care workers in Japan: a randomized controlled trial concludes that "Face mask use in health care workers has not been demonstrated to provide benefit in terms of cold symptoms or getting colds."
8.) The study published by Oxford Academic called Effectiveness of Masks and Respirators Against Respiratory Infections in Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis concludes that "We found no clear benefit of either medical masks or N95 respirators against pH1N1 [influenza]."
9.) The study published by Springer Link called Postoperative wound infections and surgical face masks: A controlled study concludes that "It has never been shown that wearing surgical face masks decreases postoperative wound infections."
10.) The medRxiv study called Mask mandate and use efficacy in state-level Covid19 containment concludes that "Mask mandates and use are not associated with slower state-level COVID-19 spread during COVID-19 growth surges."
11.) The study published by Oxford Academic called Simple Respiratory Protection—Evaluation of the Filtration Performance of Cloth Masks and Common Fabric Materials Against 20–1000 nm Size Particles concludes that "The penetration values obtained for common fabric materials indicate that only marginal respiratory protection can be expected for submicron particles taking into consideration face seal leakage."
12.) The study published by the NIH called Optical microscopic study of surface morphology and filtering efficiency of face masks concludes that "The findings of this study suggest that CM [cloth masks] are not effective, and that effectiveness deteriorates if used after washing and drying cycles and if used under stretched condition."
13.) The study published by Cochrane called Do physical measures such as hand-washing or wearing masks stop or slow down the spread of respiratory viruses? concludes that "Compared with wearing no mask, wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness (9 studies; 3507 people)."
13.) The study published by Cochrane called Do physical measures such as hand-washing or wearing masks stop or slow down the spread of respiratory viruses? concludes that "Compared with wearing no mask, wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness (9 studies; 3507 people)."
Here are the links in plain text:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32590322/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6599448/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5779801/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19216002/
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.18.21257385v1.full
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.01.20049528v1
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.30.20047217v2
https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/65/11/1934/4068747
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01658736
https://academic.oup.com/annweh/article/54/7/789/202744
https://www.cochrane.org/CD006207/ARI_do-physical-measures-such-hand-washing-or-wearing-masks-stop-or-slow-down-spread-respiratory-viruses
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32590322/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6599448/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5779801/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19216002/
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.18.21257385v1.full
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.01.20049528v1
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.30.20047217v2
https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/65/11/1934/4068747
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01658736
https://academic.oup.com/annweh/article/54/7/789/202744
https://www.cochrane.org/CD006207/ARI_do-physical-measures-such-hand-washing-or-wearing-masks-stop-or-slow-down-spread-respiratory-viruses