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by DanBC 2173 days ago
Your claim is that CDC / WHO lied about the efficacy of masks.

CDC / WHO claim that they didn't have good quality evidence that they could use to recommend mask wearing.

It should be really simple for you to prove your point: post a link to any meta-analsis or RCT of mask wearing that shows a benefit. This would be the evidence that WHO or CDC should have used to make the recommendation but chose to sit on. Before anyone says these studies don't exist: they do, there are lots of studies of mask wearing.

1 comments

They didn't just make no recommendation based on weak evidence. They recommended against wearing them [1].

I'm not sure what your last paragraph is supposed to say. Are you claiming there are lots of studies of mask wearing and the preponderance of evidence is that they don't help?

[1] see e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYI6ngjDUBo

CDC said "don't wear masks". CDC said they had no evidence they could use to recommend mask wearing.

You're claiming they did have the evidence, but they hid that because they were lying about the efficacy of masks.

If you're right it's really easy to prove: post a link to the evidence that masks work. Post a link to any meta-analysis or RCT that shows a benefit of mask wearing.

> Are you claiming there are lots of studies of mask wearing and the preponderance of evidence is that they don't help?

You're claiming that there are studies; that the studies show that masks help; and that the quality of the evidence is strong enough to make a recommendation that everyone should wear a mask.

Post a link to one of these studies.

(This, btw, is a common theme in these threads. Everyone says these studies exist, no-one ever posts a link to them. The only time someone did post a link i: the study was published June 2020 and ii: it didn't say what they thought it said).

The synopsis of existing evidence I formed my opinion on, conveniently enough for you, was on Slatestar Codex.

If these studies don't exist, why are there recommendations to wear masks now? Were they done in the intervening months?

Edit: And why, when I ask you to clarify what you mean, do you instead try to tell me what _I_ am saying?