A significant new peer-reviewed study has found that face masks may have played a significant role in the spread of Covid infections. The cross-sectional study, titled “Association between Face Mask Use and Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection,” was conducted by a team of Norwegian researchers and published in the prestigious British Cambridge University journal. The researchers performed an observational study, analyzing data from a population or a representative subset at a specific point in time, which, in this case, was early 2022.
They examined data from individuals who tested positive for Covid, focusing on their mask-wearing habits, sourced from an earlier study that investigated the impact of wearing glasses on the likelihood of infection.
The researchers explain:
“We examined the association between face masks and the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 using cross-sectional data from 3,209 participants in a randomized trial of using glasses to reduce the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2.
“Face mask use was based on participants’ responses to the end-of-follow-up survey.
“We found that the incidence of self-reported COVID-19 was 33% (aRR 1.33; 95% CI 1.03 – 1.72) higher in those wearing face masks often or sometimes, and 40% (aRR 1.40; 95% CI 1.08 – 1.82) higher in those wearing face masks almost always or always, compared to participants who reported wearing face masks never or almost never.”
These findings remained consistent after adjusting for observable confounding factors. In the unadjusted data, individuals who regularly wore masks had a 74-75% higher risk of testing positive for Covid.
“The crude estimates show a higher incidence of testing positive for COVID-19 in the groups that used face masks more frequently, with 8.6% of participants who never or almost never used masks, 15.0% of participants who sometimes used masks, and 15.1% of participants who almost always or always used masks reporting a positive test result,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
“The risk was 1.74 (1.38 to 2.18) times higher in those who wore face masks often or sometimes and 1.75 (1.39 to 2.21) times higher in those who wore face masks almost always or always, compared to participants who reported never or almost never wore masks.”
The data indicates a higher incidence of Covid cases among individuals who wore masks more frequently. Nevertheless, governments worldwide mandated mask-wearing based on less credible observational studies than the one conducted in this research.