{"id":278402,"date":"2023-09-12T13:02:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T11:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=278402"},"modified":"2023-09-12T13:02:35","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T11:02:35","slug":"oopslead-author-of-cochrane-mask-review-responds-to-faucis-dismissal-of-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=278402","title":{"rendered":"Oops:Lead author of Cochrane mask review responds to Fauci’s dismissal of evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By MARYANNE DEMASI, PHD<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Former chief medical advisor to the US President Anthony Fauci, was questioned<\/a> over the weekend by CNN reporter Michael Smerconish, about face masks being able to curb the spread of covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that masks work,\u201d said Fauci.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDifferent studies give different percentages of advantage of wearing it, but there’s no doubt that the weight of the studies \u2026 indicate the benefit of wearing masks,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smerconish brought up the\u00a02023 Cochrane review<\/a>\u00a0which found no evidence that physical interventions like face masks could stop viral transmission in the community and cited my\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0with lead author of the study Tom Jefferson who confirmed, \u201cThere is just no evidence that they [masks] make any difference. Full stop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fauci replied,\u201cYeah but there are other studies,\u201d stressing that masks work on an individual basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re talking about the effect on the epidemic or the pandemic as a whole, the data are less strong\u2026but when you talk about an individual basis of someone protecting themselves or protecting themselves from spreading it to others, there’s no doubt that there are many studies that show there is an advantage,\u201d said Fauci.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Tom Jefferson, who says he is committed to updating the Cochrane review as new evidence emerges, has responded to Fauci\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, Fauci is saying that masks work for individuals but not at a population level? That simply doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d said Jefferson.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd he says there are \u2018other studies\u2019\u2026but what studies?\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t name them so I cannot interpret his remarks without knowing what he is referring to,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jefferson explains that the entire point of the Cochrane review was to systematically sift through all the available randomised data on physical interventions such as masks and determine what was useful and what was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2011, the Cochrane review only included randomised trials to minimise bias<\/a> from confounders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt might be that Fauci is relying on trash studies,\u201d said Jefferson. \u201cMany of them are observational, some are cross-sectional, and some actually use modelling. That is not strong evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce we excluded such low-quality studies from the review, we concluded there was no evidence that masks reduced transmission,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with Fauci is that his story has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, Fauci said that masks were ineffective and unnecessary. In March 2020, Fauci told<\/a> 60 minutes, \u201cRight now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But only a few weeks later, he did a U-turn and began recommending widespread use of face masks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fauci defended his U-turn saying<\/a>, \u201cWhen the facts change, I change my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jefferson retorted, \u201cWhat facts changed?  There were no randomised studies, no new evidence to justify his flip-flop. That\u2019s simply not true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Fauci has remained adamant that face masks not only stop people from infecting others, but they also protect the wearer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fauci advocated for the use of cloth masks, and even encouraged double-masking<\/a> in the absence of evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it would be more effective,” Fauci told<\/a> NBC news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat Fauci doesn’t understand is that cloth and surgical masks cannot stop viruses because viruses are too small and they still get through,\u201d said Jefferson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He laments that public figures have tried to undermine the Cochrane review, despite it representing the gold standard of evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Columnist Zeynep Tufekci wrote an article in the New York Times<\/em> titled, \u201cHere\u2019s Why the Science Is Clear That Masks Work<\/a><\/em>,\u201d claiming that Cochrane\u2019s mask study had misled the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cochrane\u2019s editor in chief, Karla Soares-Weiser capitulated to pressure and \u201capologised\u201d for the wording<\/a> in the plain language summary of the review because it \u201cwas open to misinterpretation\u201d and may have led to \u201cinaccurate and misleading\u201d claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And former CDC director Rochelle Walensky\u00a0misled Congress<\/a>\u00a0after claiming the Cochrane review had been \u201cretracted\u201d which was patently false.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it stands, the Cochrane review will continue to be the subject of attacks because it presents a major roadblock for implementing masking policies. Jefferson says he doesn\u2019t know what motivates people to ignore the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCould it be part of this whole agenda to control people\u2019s behaviour? Perhaps,\u201d he speculated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat I do know,\u201d said Jefferson, \u201cis that Fauci was in a position to run a trial, he could have randomised two regions to wear masks or not. But he didn\u2019t and that\u2019s unforgivable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fauci, who served as the federal government’s top infectious disease specialist for nearly 40 years, stepped down in Dec 2022 and is\u00a0now<\/a>\u00a0a professor at Georgetown University\u2019s Department of Medicine, in the\u00a0Division of Infectious Diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published on the author\u2019s\u00a0Substack<\/a>. Subscribe\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo, Fauci is saying that masks work for individuals but not at a population level? That simply doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d said Jefferson.
\n\u201cAnd he says there are \u2018other studies\u2019\u2026but what studies?\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t name them so I cannot interpret his remarks without knowing what he is referring to,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":278407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691821310,691818256,691822500,691822523],"class_list":{"0":"post-278402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-anthony-fauci-2","9":"tag-covid-19","10":"tag-face-masks","11":"tag-professor-tom-jefferson","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0anthony-fauci-national-institutes-health.jpg?fit=2500%2C1667&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1aqm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":216232,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=216232","url_meta":{"origin":278402,"position":0},"title":"Another Cheney Family Accomplishment","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"29\/08\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cHow Dick Cheney created Anthony Fauci\u201d","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-1338.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-1338.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-1338.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-1338.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-1338.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":255917,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=255917","url_meta":{"origin":278402,"position":1},"title":"German Government Admits it Has No Evidence Face Masks Work","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In other words: they got nothing. 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