HomeMy WebLinkAbout20201119_S Schumacher COVIDFrom:Stephen Schumacher
To:Board of Health
Cc:heidi4commissioner@gmail.com; msandoval@cityofpt.us; dfaber@cityofpt.us; ahoward@cityofpt.us;
aspeser@cityofpt.us; mmickhager@cityofpt.us; orowe@cityofpt.us; Pamela Adams; jmauro@cityofpt.us;
hgreenwood@cityofpt.us; news@ptleader.com
Subject:Important new mask study
Date:Wednesday, November 18, 2020 8:49:00 PM
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Dear Jefferson County Board of Health,
Please note that the long-awaited Danish study on "Effectiveness of Adding a Mask Recommendation" waspublished today by the Annals of Internal Medicine:https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817
This is the first real-world, randomized, controlled trial "to assess whether recommending surgical mask use outside
the home reduces wearers' risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection". Non-control participants were supplied with 50surgical masks along with recommendations and instructions for proper use.
The results were 1.8% infections occurring in the masked group and 2.1% in the control group, so "the differenceobserved was not statistically significant".
This important study does not bear on "the efficacy of community-based use of face masks" to protect others, buttwo systematic reviews by the WHO in 2019 and by the CDC in February, 2020 found "no significant reduction ininfluenza transmission with the use of face masks":http://solmaker.com/public/Masks_no_significant_reduction_in_transmission-WHO2019.pnghttp://solmaker.com/public/Masks_no_significant_reduction_in_transmission-CDC2020.png
Yours truly,
Stephen Schumacher2023 E. Sims Way #200Port Townsend, WA 98368