Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • Debbie Young
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • The Swiss Way
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • Dick Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool
  • Anti-Gun Control
  • Anti-Digital Currency
  • World Gold Mine Production

Denmark’s Randomized Controlled Study of Facemasks

December 4, 2020 By Debbie Young

By rozdemir @ Shutterstock.com

Originally posted November 20, 2020.

At last, there is properly rigorous scientific research we can rely on in the age of Coronavirus. Evidence shows that wearing masks in communities does not significantly reduce the rates of infection.

On Wednesday, the Denmask-19 Trial, a long-delayed trial from Denmark, was finally published. The study from last spring involved 3,000 participants. At the time, the population at large was not being told to wear masks, but other public health measures were in place, reports the Spectator.US.

Unlike other studies looking at masks, the Denmask study was a randomized controlled trial — making it the highest quality scientific evidence.

Around half of those in the trial received 50 disposable surgical facemasks, which they were told to change after eight hours of use. After one month, the trial participants were tested using both PCR, antibody and lateral flow tests and compared with the trial participants who did not wear a mask.

In the end, there was no statistically significant difference between those who wore masks and those who did not when it came to being infected by COVID-19. Of those wearing masks, 1.8 percent caught COVID, compared to 2.1 percent of the control group. As a result, it seems that any effect masks have on preventing the spread of the disease in the community is small.

No Evidence Masks Prevent Spread of Airborne Diseases

When it comes to masks, it appears there is still little good evidence they prevent the spread of airborne diseases. The results of the Danmask-19 trial mirror other reviews into influenza-like illnesses. Nine other trials looking at the efficacy of masks (two looking at healthcare workers and seven at community transmission) have found that masks make little or no difference to whether you get influenza or not.

But overall, there is a troubling lack of robust evidence on facemasks and COVID-19. There have only been three community trials during the current pandemic comparing the use of masks with various alternatives — one in Guinea-Bissau, one in India and this latest trial in Denmark.

The low number of studies into the effect different interventions have on the spread of COVID-19 — a subject of global importance — suggests there is a total lack of interest from governments in pursuing evidence-based medicine. And this starkly contrasts with the huge sums they have spent on ‘boutique relations’ consultants advising the government.

Large, randomized trials like this most recent Danish study are important if we are to understand the impact of measures like facemasks, continues the Spectator.

Many people have argued that it is too difficult to wait for randomized trials — but Danmask-19 has shown that these studies are more than feasible.

Related Posts

  • Coronavirus Map
  • Coronavirus Map
  • Folly From The Institute For The Study of War
  • Harvard Study Says Some Social Distancing Needed through 2022
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Debbie Young
Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over five decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving her Porsche Boxter S through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga.
Latest posts by Debbie Young (see all)
  • Auto Profitability Colliding with Low Emissions - June 1, 2023
  • The Party Is Going Off the Rails - May 31, 2023
  • Commemorating Memorial Day - May 30, 2023

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • Stunned Democrats Against “Defund Police”
  • The Fed – “Independent” and “Non Political” – Joins The Resistance
  • Gold’s 50-Year Price Explosion
  • Your Cash Swept into Your Broker’s Bank Account!
  • “The Losses are Taking a Toll on Their Health”
  • America’s Colleges Have Become Progressive Liberal Rat Holes
  • TROJAN HORSE: “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” is Critical Race Theory in Disguise
  • Can Ginger Combat Heart Disease and Improve Circulation?
  • When the Black Swan Swoops In for You
  • Why Investors Should Forget Prices and Focus on Income

Our Most Popular Posts

  • Joe Biden’s Death Warrant for Fossil Fuel Plants
  • Stossel Says DeSantis Is "Smarter and Better than Biden."
  • America’s Favorite Wordsmith Needs Tutoring
  • Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • Will Anyone from the FBI Be Held Accountable for the Russiagate Hoax?
  • Pushing the Envelope Too Far
  • Preserving Liberty Through Homeschooling
  • The Party Is Going Off the Rails
  • Commemorating Memorial Day
  • What Does That Have to Do with Your Dividend?

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Birth Rates in France Worst Since Post-WWII Era
  • A Cashless Society Is A Debacle for Americans
  • Democracy: The Most Dangerous and Insidious Effect of Majority Rule.
  • What’s the Alternative to China for Manufacturers?
  • Here Come the Adjustments to Earnings
  • Container Production Cuts a Sign of Declining Trade?
  • Your Survival Guy Felt Like a U.N. Worker in Rome
  • Happy Memorial Day!
  • Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • Money Market Assets Hit Record High: $5.4 Trillion

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • Survive and Thrive June 2023: Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • Birth Rates in France Worst Since Post-WWII Era
  • Your Survival Guy Felt Like a U.N. Worker in Rome
  • Social Security: Declining Italy Needs a Bambino Boom
  • ATTACK ON THE IVAN KHURS: Unmanned Vessels Changing Naval Warfare
  • The Future of the American City is This…
  • Happy Memorial Day: Your Survival Guy: Proud To Be an American
  • Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • Insurers Now Fleeing the Net Zero Insurance Alliance
  • A Three-Week International Research Trip to Paris via Rome

Auto Profitability Colliding with Low Emissions

Birth Rates in France Worst Since Post-WWII Era

What Binds the Woke Left Together?

Joel Salatin and Alfie Oakes, America’s Food Kings

The Party Is Going Off the Rails

Your Survival Guy Felt Like a U.N. Worker in Rome

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives