There follows a guest post by Hector Drummond, a former academic who worked in risk, who says when he came to research his new book The Face Mask Cult on the effectiveness of masks against COVID-19 the evidence was threadbare.
In 2021 I decided to write an FAQ on all aspects of Covid, lockdowns and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). I started with face masks, as they seemed to be the easiest issue to deal with, thinking that the whole mask situation could be summed up in five to six pages. After a few days work I had twenty pages of text, and another twenty pages of reminder notes on further aspects of face masks that I needed to consider and research. Those notes ballooned out in the next few weeks, and I realised that the use of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 was a far bigger topic than I had appreciated, and would require substantial amounts of writing, and months of research and literature-reading.
It took until the next year before I decided I’d written enough on the topic. I had read an enormous number of scientific papers and other articles on masks, and gone through some of them with a fine-tooth comb (see Part 3 of the book, for instance). I had spent considerable time analysing, synthesising and rewriting, and my short FAQ article had become a comprehensive 400-page book that tackled all aspects of the issue, as well as a unique resource with its extensive scientific literature review section.
In all my researches I failed to come across very much in the way of convincing evidence that masks work. The papers that were supposed to show that they did all turned out to be poor pieces of science. None were randomly-controlled peer-reviewed trials. Some were observational studies, with inadequate controls for dealing with the possibility of faulty or biased recollection. Some were ‘modelling’ studies, in which a computer program was used to ‘model’ the effect of face masks on disease spread. Modelling studies are generally hopeless at providing any confirming evidence for the effectiveness of face masks as they require the modellers to make assumptions about how effective the masks are when writing their programs. Some were mannequin studies, in which a dummy in a lab with artificial breathing functions, rather than a real person in the real world, was used. Some were simply tests of the porosity of various materials in regard to salt aerosols.
Most studies ignored the issue of face mask gaps, despite it being well-known in the field that gaps around the sides of masks will let such large amounts of virions in and out that any effect that the masks do have will be completely negated. (This is why medical institutions require ‘fit tests’ for masks – not that fit tests are very reliable, as I explain in the book.)
Even these dubious studies that claimed to show an effect for masks didn’t show much of an effect. The less wild ones would typically claim that the cloth masks would stop 5% to 15% of virions, but they never presented any reason to believe the further claim that was often made that this would cause a 5% to 15% reduction in cases, or a 5% to 15% reduction in deaths. The closest such studies got to doing so was when an author would occasionally speculate, in an airy fashion, that if the disease in question’s R0 rate happened to be close to 1.0, then maybe widespread mask use (assuming masks had some small effect) would be enough to push the R0 rate below 1.0, in which case the disease would die out, although of course even if all their assumptions were true and masks did push the disease’s R0 rate below 1.0 it doesn’t follow that the disease would die out anytime soon. It could well be that the disease’s R0 rate would quickly come back over 1.0 again as soon as we stop masking, and so in order to stop the disease spreading again we would have to wear masks for years on end, or even indefinitely.
But what about all those government reports written by distinguished scientists assuring us that there were now truckloads of research proving that masks work? This is perhaps the most shocking part of the whole face mask con. The 2020 DELVE report and its updates, the 2020 Royal Society report, and the 2022 Department for Education’s Evidence Summary were disgraceful pieces of misinformation, as I show in detail in the book. Even more shocking, perhaps, is the fact that there have been so many acts of wrongdoing in the last two years that the scientific butchery committed in these reports is completely unknown to the general public. The fact, for instance, that the Royal Society’s report relied heavily upon a low-grade Chinese study, written in Chinese only, and published in an obscure Chinese journal, which reported fantastically unrealistic results, is never even going to briefly flit through the mind of the average person, because the average person will never come across any reference to this shameful affair in the mainstream media.
I felt vindicated as I put the finishing touches to the book when several prominent advocates of masks, such as Trish Greenhalgh, Jeremy Howard and many others, started to admit that cloth masks were useless. Not that they wanted to us to stop wearing masks – they now wanted us to move onto medical-grade respirator masks, like N95s and FFP2s, as Germany required. Needless to say, these mask fanatics didn’t bother to mention that Germany’s stringent mask policy has been a complete failure.
The book I finished up with is a serious corrective to the endless propaganda we have been fed about masks. It lays out the case against masks in detail, considers the harms done by mask-wearing (harms which are usually ignored by scientists and governments), closely examines many claims made about masks by both sides, and backs it all up with an enormous number of references to the scientific literature. Whenever anyone who wants you to wear a mask says, “Follow the Science”, just show them this book and say, “I already did”.
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yes, but there’s a possibility they might go up again so better be cautious and lockdown hard – stay safe….
I don’t know why those suffering from Covid Nervosa don’t just top themselves, get it all done with , leaving the rest of us in peace. I used to be empathetic about this form of hypochondria, but the cost of the whole country becoming a lunatic asylum is too high.
Speaking as something of a hypochondriac myself, I agree
Though the true evil has come from those who have manipulated them into it
Perhaps longer lives and better healthcare, more material well being and accessing information through a screen rather than first hand have led to an increase in susceptibility to this kind of disorder
Actually, Julian, I have every sympathy for anyone suffering from hypochondria, as with other forms of anxiety. But, of course, the main way to deal with anxiety is to recognise it and break through it. Currently, the opposite is being applied – with people being encouraged to reinforce their anxiety by hiding away.
Yes. It is induced.But satire is one way the rest of us can deal with what is imposed on us. It doesn’t hide the underlying seriousness of the cluster of mental problems manufactured by the already insane.
What is happening is actually state terrorism – the primary aim of which isn’t to kill people, but to induce ‘terror’. From that perspective, SPI-B is a terrorist group in my book, who have caused more damage than any recognised cell.
Love the term Covid Nervosa much better than my ‘coviditis’
Sorry rick will be using this term myself – I know alot of them
I just watched a video of some young people in America wearing masks and when questioned as to why they all said they liked wearing them and their friends wear them too! There is no hope for the human race when confronted by such stupidity!
Fear of life…Fear of death.. in that case what is the point of their sad bloody ‘lives’
And lockdown all surrounding areas, at least up to the coast.
Heck, why not the whole country!
You mean the bullshit turned out to be bullshit
FFS – not again…
yeah who’d have thought i twigged something was up when all my friends and parents and work colleagues and neighbours and the man in the corner shop were all still alive by Christmas i began to wonder if some bad people had made some mild bug sound like the end of days
Oh my, 42 patients, how will the hospital cope? Maybe if they started using ivermectin there would be even less of them.
Save the NHS and er thats it really perhaps it should read save The NHS from ever doing any work again
And more time for dancing.
you know PHE banned ivermectin because it was too effective at stopping serious illness with covid?
“STOP a Bolton lockdown”
What does that even mean? It’s worded like an advert: “The Da Vinci Code, a New York Times Best Seller”, or a command to do the opposite: “join the effort to STOP a Bolton lockdown”. Who comes up with this crap? Is a “Bolton” lockdown unique somehow? Is it a different flavour!?
It’s done by an advertising company, employed before this all began.
yes well apparently its grim up North so now its all begining to make sense
You mean “it’s grim ewp Narth, ewp for the cewp, bodies piling up in the streets in Bolton innit, ay-i-oh, they’re gonna Bolt-on a lockdown for sure, and we won’t be getting out of it as fast as Usain Bolt”.
ewp. Is that West Yorkshire? Not North Yorkshire or rural Cumbrian. Innit, not northern. Must be an import. Also surely “the” should be “t” ? Not so?
Please update me on Bolton speak.
Well the vaccine development seemed to start in China before the west house-arrested the healthy to prevent herd immunity.
Misspelling, perhaps? Or maybe someone “misspoke” and it should be a Bolt-on Lockdown?
“It’s worded like an advert: “The Da Vinci Code ….”
Actually – have you noticed, analysing television output across the board, the incredible excess of horror, sci-fi and fantasy in the film listings?
A priming for susceptibility to real world manipulation?
A Bolton lockdown uses real bolts
Bolton is not locking down, the Delta virus mutation has moved on to Blackburn. The numbers in Bolton are down to single figures, anyway, they are still using faulty PCR and Lat testing to prove cases, which mean nothing by way of actual covid infected people.
Surprise surfuckingprise.
2020: Just wait 2 weeks
2021: Just wait another 2 weeks
I love the messaging on that signboard. It’s the same public health messaging as for the past 15 months, but now the theme isn’t “Stay safe” or “Save lives” or “Don’t Kill Granny,” it’s “Stop a lockdown.”
By its nature though, in this context, the word “Lockdown” would now appear to be a bad thing is that a development or some kind of admission
Lockdown is communal punishment for not washing hands
About the only sensible things on there are “Stop lockdown” and “If you have symptoms, get tested”. The wash hands, 2m and face coverings are all rather dubious in their effectiveness
Stop using their stupid names please.
At least they’ve referred to the PM as such and not used the B-word.
Bastard?
Only 1 death today ‘within 28 days of a positive test’.
Well worth worsening the living experience of millions of people for far longer to pretend that you could bring this number down even further.
Halfasadlideath a day:
That’s what the Vaxxinated say.
yes but if we can only save one …. shit. i cant do it anymore, your right its over the games up although a man did cough in Guernsey
Oh nooooooooo!
I like this one.
‘Here’s a sobering thought: Treating people who are NOT sick as though they are, by forcing them to ACT or BELIEVE that they are sick (vaccines, social distancing, mask-wearing, quarantine, isolation) is a condition called Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Is this a form of abuse?’
The Behavioural Insights Team are having the time of their life
Yes – they’re locking up the wrong people.
Save the NHS !!!! im sorry i cant think of anything else to say its just got kind of stuck there .One thing how do you actually save the NHS .A nation of frightened lemmings has been created from nothing ,literally nothing with compliance and full consent to degrade our normal way of living .Shameful facist overtones
It is gross abuse and it will continue for as long as we put up with it.
Very Sunny today. I saw a man in the park putting on sunscreen. I assume for my benefit ?
Yep – scary stuff that solar radiation: if he reflects less UV and saves just one life …….
cant we just lock the sun down its proved to be very popular in dealing with airborne virus’s so far .The virus will try to knock on your door but like salesmen/Mormons etc if you pretend to not be in it will eventually go awy or something
i hope he was wearing a mask and was at least two meters away from you whilts washing his hands its the only way were going to keep this pissy virus going now we realised no one actually caught it .though to be fair many many people tested positive the poor mites
LOL. Classic !
I try to do my bit for the community.
I make sure I put on my most comfortable shoes when I walk the dog to make sure others don’t suffer from sore feet and the dreaded corns.
I’m very considerate….at times.
Not sunscreen, it is anti vitamin D cream! This means he will be catching covid soon so he can boast to his mates he has had it. Not!
I think what we are seeing is a porcentage of the population who benefit from the pandemic via online business and internet platforms who are reluctant to go back to the old normal. So scariants and variants are just a push to stay on course as long as possible.
out of interest how long do you think they have
the game is up already, even real sheeple I talk to have started to (finally) question the apocalypse narrative. Go Britons, free your faces then your souls.
Ten years at most, though many will go much more quickly.
Can you die of anything else except covid?
Only with special permission, after twenty LFT tests, twenty PCR tests and a year’s prior quarantine. And your coffin must be deep-cleaned and you must be slathered in germicidal gunk before you are put in it.
You will not be allowed a church funeral because the clergy are too frightened to go into the church with anybody else, living or dead.
Yes, though of course that won’t be on the death certificate.
It’s the only death, within 28 days of a positive test or a coroners best guess, which is worth reporting apparently.
1253 confirmed kills on Yellow Card but for the ‘greater good’ lets ignore them. Same for the 150K AZ guinea pigs with their new found neurological disorders.
Can’t wait for tomorrows insanity and gaslighting extravaganza. Stay tuned !!!!
Yes, but they’ll call it with, by, or for covid anyway.
So how many covvicorpses has Bolton managed to score?
Interesting that the nagging notice is about preventing lockdowns, not preventing covvie. Which is the worse scourge, eh?
This had absolutely nothing to do with the Indian variant or saving the nhs. It was simply about getting the population of Bolton frightened enough to get the jab. And it worked beautifully. Off they all rushed to jab this experimental gene therapy into their bodies. The only problem will be if they start dropping dead this will not end well.
Stop a Bolton Lockdown? DO AS YOU ARE TOLD.
Then we’ll lockdown again anyway because masks, superstitions and hocus pocus won’t stop the natural spread of an airborne virus.
They locals should paint over each and every one of those signs.
It’s really very little to do with a virus. Much more to do with pointless lockdowns, humiliating masks mandates, utterly futile hand washing and health passports. All of which are about control and are a means of coercing people into undergoing injection with criminally dangerous gene altering experimental biological agents. Non-compliance is the only viable option.
Today’s Telegraph in Scotland is bellyaching about not enough children and teachers taking a zillion lateral flow tests every week. Apparently, gasp, there are some people who have never taken even one test! Means have to be devised to encourage greater uptake of tests. We all know where that will lead.
I could suggest bribing the Buckfast boys with a few bottles of their favourite tipple to make a contribution on behalf of their community, if they want to get the numbers up, but I fear any official brave enough to offer a cotton bud a) might not be able to understand their banter and b) would end up needing medical assistance.
I haven’t had a test and don’t intend having one.
This bombardment of absurdities and contradictions is Kim Jong Johnson’s way of putting off decisions till the very last possible millisecond.
I fear that people who haven’t clocked this trail of obvious lying manipulation are never going to.
Successfully controlling it without lockdowns by using vaccinations…??!!! Since when did the science change from the vaccs not stopping folk contracting and spreading the ‘V’ to suddenly being able to replace lockdowns!? And folk are believing this. Absolutely criminal manipulation and devisiveness. Stop it now, MSM! Where’s your integrity, your professionalism, your humanity? Do you realise you are complicit in murder?!
Anybody died yet?
Government seems keen to get more ‘cases’ i.e. false postives… I recieved this email from my local council… full of sketchy science.. test is PCR…
It’s scientific illiteracy with dangerous consequences. Children playing with matches.
A total pack of false figures, and lies from the council. they are barking but have no bute, ignore such crap. Wasting more taxpayers’ money on worthless literature.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week admitted the link between infections and hospital admissions, which vaccines should separate, has so far been “broken but not completely severed”.
Same applies to flu for goodness sake. Also like flu it is seasonal as we saw last year when hospital admission fell – despite no vaccines.
Why nothing on this website from the likes of Dr Cory on Ivermectin? The withholding of this effective, cheap drug is criminal.
They’ll never admit they got it wrong or that they are working to an Agenda.
https://www.openvaers.com/covid-data