There have clearly been many, MANY aspects of our Covid response that were and remain inexcusable.
Vaccine passports and mandatesthe nonsensical curfews and capacity limits, the blanket mask mandates and of course the closure of beaches should never be forgotten.
But few, if any, of our pointless, ineffective Covid-era restrictions have been as indefensible as masking children. And thanks to the awe-inspiring incompetence of the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States was a global outlier; obsessively committed to forcing toddlers as young as 2 to wear masks.
Schools, youth programs, camps, on planes… wherever children gathered, they were forcibly masked. Gruesome videos emerged of teachers or flight attendants putting masks on crying children.
Calls to mask children in schools have continued worryingly in some parts of the country until the end of 2023.
But new research has confirmed what was clear to anyone who studied the data and evidence of recent years: it was all for nothing.
Masking children is not effective, new research shows
“Trust the science,” “Follow the data,” “Listen to the experts.”
Starting in 2020, these phrases became a relentless mantra of an oppressive government, pharmaceutical, and media playbook. Instead of examining the factual evidence, data and pre-Covid consensus, politicians, administrators and large sections of the public placed their faith and trust in a few unreliable, self-interested individuals. And with disastrous consequences.
Following the actual evidence would, in theory, have meant using evidence-based methods, as espoused by experts in the field such as Carl Heneghan of the University of Oxford. Primarily, this means using a hierarchy of studies, based on quality, to create systematic reviews of well-conducted research.
Instead, we were fed the CDC’s reporting of non-statistically significant results based on telephone surveys, and we watched as these results were incorporated into pro-masking reviews designed to promote ineffective policies.
But a new one systematic review by Tracy Beth Høeg and a number of other researchers has just been released on mask mandates for children. And unlike the pro-mask propaganda, it actually tries to use high-quality evidence to reach its conclusion.
Background Mask mandates for children during the Covid-19 pandemic have varied in different locations. No risk-benefit analysis of this intervention has yet been performed. In this study, we conducted a systematic review to assess research on the effectiveness of mask wearing in children.
They even used independent reviewers to ensure there was no bias in the selection criteria for the studies.
Methods We conducted database searches through February 2023. The studies were screened by title and abstract, and the included studies were further screened as full-text references. A risk of bias analysis was performed by two independent reviewers and assessed by a third reviewer.
This meant that of the 597 studies screened, only 22 were included after meeting the criteria. And in a sign that the CDC abdicated their responsibility, there were no randomized controlled trials. Sure enough, when filtering out information at risk of serious bias or confusion, there was no link between forcing children to wear masks and infection or transmission.
Results No randomized controlled trials in children have assessed the benefits of mask wearing to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection or transmission. The six observational studies that reported an association between masking children and lower infection rates or antibody seropositivity were at critical (n=5) or serious (n=1) risk of bias; all six were potentially confounded by important differences between masked and unmasked groups and two were found to have non-significant results on reanalysis. Sixteen other observational studies found no link between mask wearing and infection or transmission.
As any intellectually honest scientist, researcher, or expert would admit, their inescapable conclusion is that the “current body of scientific data does not support masking children to protect against COVID-19.”
Conclusions The real-world effectiveness of child mask mandates against the transmission or infection of SARS-CoV-2 has not been demonstrated with high-quality evidence. The current body of scientific data does not support masking children to protect against Covid-19.
Who could have guessed that?
Low-quality research used to create policies with low effectiveness
The details of the studies included in this systematic review are even more damning.
Of the six observational studies that supposedly showed a benefit in masking children, all were fatally flawed in important ways. Specifically, there were significant confounding differences between unmasked and masked children that undermined the reported results.
The differences include the “number of instructional school days, differences in school size, systematic baseline differences in the number of cases across all phases of the pandemic, testing policies, policy differences in contact tracing, and teacher vaccination rates.” With such substantial differences, it is impossible to determine whether or not the claimed reduction in infection or transmission is due to masks or one or more of those other factors.
This is why randomized controlled trials are so important. And why the CDC should have implemented it during the years of the pandemic. But at the same time, given the results of masking RCTs conducted on adults, it’s pretty clear why they didn’t. Because they knew this would show that masks didn’t work.
The researchers also pointed to the fact that some of the studies promoted by the CDC saw their effects disappear upon reanalysis. Specifically, one of the “observational CDC-funded studies” in the US claimed to show a link between nationwide mask mandates and the number of pediatric cases.
But when it was subjected to a ‘comprehensive reanalysis’, that association disappeared.
That first result, however, is how to use low-quality studies to launder low-quality information. The CDC funds a study with expected predetermined results, the media reports the results of that study – despite being misleading, expert researchers reassess using conventional methods, and the supposed benefit disappears.
But the correction doesn’t get the attention of the original because it shows a result that the CDC considers unacceptable.
Even observational reporting has shown that at a population level, masks don’t matter for younger people. Virginia faced enormous criticism for ending school mask mandates in early 2022, but saw cases collapse after a huge wave of mask mandates.
Similarly, cases in Philadelphia schools fell for two weeks after the mask mandate was lifted in 2022, and rose significantly for two weeks after the mask mandate went into effect in January 2023.
![](https://brownstone.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image-22-800x451.png)
As often discussed, in a healthy world this systematic review would definitively close the door to further discussions about forced masking of children. Higher quality research has confirmed that there is no evidence that masks are effective and that eliminating biases and confounders unsurprisingly produces the same results in children.
But common sense is dead. That’s why the current CDC director defiantly refuses to admit that masking toddlers was a mistake.
That’s not necessary.
Høeg and the other researchers who conducted this review said it for her.
Major AI developments will be announced