Do you remember a time before the Covid pandemic, when multiple scientific research papers concluded that there was little efficacy in wearing masks to prevent viral infections? Fortunately, some people kept the receipts and we're able to dig up pre-Covid studies that point to the worthlessness of mask mandates.
While “The Science” evolved over the course of the Covid pandemic, the scientific community knew all along that masks were ineffective for preventing the spread of disease. Dr. Fauci himself even said to his friends in a private email that it was unnecessary to mask up before traveling. And, in February 2020, the U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams posted on Twitter that masks, “are not effective in preventing [the] general public from catching #Coronavirus.”
So what changed? It seems that the federal government saw an opportunity to take further control over our lives, or they were wanting to assuage public fear of a virus we had never encountered before. Either way, they were most certainly not looking at “The Science” for guidance. If they were, then they would have known what mulitple studies have already confirmed: “wearing masks in the community probably makes little to no difference to the outcome of influenza/COVID-19 like illness compared to not wearing masks.”
The above quote is from a publication called the Cochrane review, which is an independent policy institution and is well known for its review of research studies. While the efficacy of masks is no longer up for debate, the way they impacted our lives is very much in play. We can't forget that the powers that be forced us to stay inside, to miss loved one's graduation ceremonies, and to close down our businesses or face the consequences. Now it turns out that we never had to mask, and it seems that it was just a government ploy to take the power back from small businesses and communities.
If you'd like to read more about how masking up was never going to work, please read this article from Real Clear Politics. An excerpt of the article has been copied below:
But actually, prior to COVID, most of the research had concluded that masks did little to reduce the transmission of respiratory viruses. In a 2010 Cambridge paper, researchers reviewed 12 studies on the efficacy of masks. The authors concluded: “While there is some experimental evidence that masks should be able to reduce infectiousness under controlled conditions, there is less evidence on whether this translates to effectiveness in natural settings. There is little evidence to support the effectiveness of face masks to reduce the risk of infection.” (Emphasis added.)
Indeed, the consensus in public health agencies in the early days of the pandemic was that masks were not effective in preventing transmission of the virus. In February 2020, then-U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams posted on Twitter that masks “… are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus.” Until April 2020, the guidance from the CDC and the WHO was that no one other than healthcare workers should wear masks, and Dr. Anthony Fauci was advising friends in emails that wearing masks while traveling was unnecessary.
