• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Do Masks Do Anything to Prevent Transmission of Influenza or Influenza-Like Viruses? Clinical Trials Show No Clear-Cut Effect

by Dr Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson
16 August 2022 1:00 PM

Professor Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson have launched a Substack newsletter called ‘Trust the Evidence’. As regular readers of this site will know, they are two of the most authoritative sources when it comes to COVID-19, as well as other viruses. Unlike many medical doctors and public health scientists, they are strictly guided by the evidence and call it as they see it, regardless of whether it complements or contradicts the prevailing consensus. The article below was first published on their Substack account, which you can subscribe to here. The staff of the Daily Sceptic strongly encourages all our readers to subscribe.

Some of us started reviewing the evidence of the effects of physical interventions on the spread of viral respiratory infection two decades ago. The Cochrane review, now in its fourth update, concludes there is still uncertainty about the effects of face masks.

“Physical interventions” include hand washing, distancing, disinfection and barriers, including all types of masks.

SARS-CoV-2 had not been identified when we did the last update (published in November 2020), so we reviewed what physical interventions did to affect the spread of influenza and influenza-like illness. Most identify these two as “Flu”. We have already shown the lack of knowledge that accompanies this microbiological simplification.

Influenza-like illness is a syndrome made up of a constellation of signs and symptoms: fever, cough, runny nose, malaise, fatigue and so on, with which everyone is familiar. It is a multiagent syndrome caused by scores of known viruses (including seasonal coronaviruses) and many more which are unknown; Influenza (which cannot be distinguished clinically from the rest of influenza-like) illness is caused by two specific viruses (Influenza A and B) that can be diagnosed only after a laboratory test.

Before the pandemic, clinical trials in widely different settings and using different types of masks show no clear-cut effect against Influenza-like illnesses and influenza.

Although trials of medical/surgical masks are logistically challenging, the message is unequivocal: they do not appear to do much. Their effect on the broader community is unknown. These are broadly the same conclusions of the only two available randomised trials of masks conducted on COVID-19.

In previous versions of the Cochrane review, we included observational studies; some carried out after the 2003 SARs-1 epidemic. These lower quality studies showed an apparent effect, which higher quality studies failed to confirm. This is not an unusual situation that we find ourselves in Evidence-based medicine.

Who should you believe? Those that espouse low-quality evidence and its certainties or those rely on higher quality trial evidence – as we did in version 4 – with its inherent message of uncertainty.

The bottom line for evidence is to address the uncertainty. Throughout this pandemic, many seem to have had difficulty coping with uncertainties; they have jumped on any evidence that provides an element of certainty – at the time, this can feel reassuring. However, we have a tried and tested way of dealing with uncertainty in science: randomised trials.

It is a terrible indictment of the current leadership that no such trials have been planned or done, those which are on the stocks have had problems with funding and recruiting enough participants, and some researchers have been subjected to malicious personal attacks.

Any government “following the science” should have sponsored a range of trials testing different types and mixes of physical interventions in various populations and settings. They should have mandated genuine scientific efforts to diminish uncertainty. But politics, social media and the fatal attraction of spurious certainty underpinned by low-quality studies seem too much to overcome.

Dr. Carl Heneghan is the Oxford Professor of Evidence Based Medicine and Dr. Tom Jefferson is an epidemiologist based in Rome who works with Professor Heneghan on the Cochrane Collaboration.

Tags: COVID-19InfluenzaMasks

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

New Food Study Gives Bacon a Higher Nutritional Score than Couscous

Next Post

Civil Disobedience is Coming

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

16 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago

I must be a lot older than I thought. I can still remember when banks looked after your money, and paid you a bit of the interest they made by lending it to other people who were good risks.

This woke stuff starts out with one or two fairly reasonable plausible things, but just gets pushed and pushed to absurdity and beyond. Each step into folly justifies the next one.

We shouldn’t discriminate against women. Agreed. Or Gay people. Agreed. and many steps later, we are giving special rights to people who’s sexual pleasure is putting hedgehogs up their backsides, and calling themselves Fifi, and any word to the contrary is at the pain of being labelled a bigot.

My only hope is that there is a line of maximum woke, where everyone just goes ‘hang on a minute. WTF is this all about.?’ and abandons it as a ludicrous waste of time and money. We don’t seem to be anywhere near there yet. Maybe next year.

114
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

The trouble is that it’s much more than just being nice to whatever minority groups you pick as your pet causes – it also includes being nasty to other groups, especially if they dare to challenge any of this nonsense.

I’m done with totalitarians pretending they are nice. Please bring back people who are just unashamedly selfish and we all know where we stand.

73
0
Welshp
Welshp
2 years ago
Reply to  NeilParkin

“and many steps later, we are giving special rights to people who’s sexual pleasure is putting hedgehogs up their backsides, and calling themselves Fifi”

🤣🤣🤣 Brilliant comment, set me up for the week ahead in clown world 👍

8
0
elsvan
elsvan
2 years ago

So are they also going to pay for HRT for the women, sorry, “people with vaginas” who are going through menopause?

44
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  elsvan

I’m on YouGov and I often get questions about what my firm’s policy is on supporting people going through menopause, and a variety of other specialist conditions/groups. It appears to be a thing, to have a policy for everything. I always answer that my firm’s policy is to offer what support we can to all our staff, whatever their issues, treating each one as an individual.

24
0
DanClarke
DanClarke
2 years ago

Cat flaps in the walls for those identifying as a cat

48
0
Matt Dalby
Matt Dalby
2 years ago
Reply to  DanClarke

What about those of us who self identify as a giraffe, paid leave until our employer makes all of their doors and ceilings 12 feet high so we can safely go into the office?

2
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
2 years ago

“…[Goldman Sachs] became the first company in the U.K. to offer to ship working mothers’ breast milk home if they work overseas.”

My goodness me. I had to read that sentence five times before I understood it. And now I do, I still can’t believe it.

It’s like companies are trying to outdo each other on the absurdity scale.

Last edited 2 years ago by Marcus Aurelius knew
42
0
amanuensis
amanuensis
2 years ago

The behaviour of the banks at the moment is akin to a psychopath trying to make friends.

They know it is in their best interests, so they they smile, pat people on the back, ask people about their family — but always end up saying exactly the wrong things at all the wrong times.

I imagine that the important bit is ‘they know it is in their best interests’ — it suggests to me that there are problems ahead, and the banks want to be able to say ‘I know we’re screwing over customers, businesses and even countries — but we’re very inclusive and just look at our efforts on climate change!’

35
-1
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  amanuensis

Indeed – anyone who thinks the people that run these things really cares much about their staff, or cares especially about trans people or whatever, needs their head read (to quote the late, great Kerry Packer).

I wonder how much they pay their cleaners.

30
0
Mad Vlad
Mad Vlad
2 years ago

I think it’ marvellous the way the banks are becoming more inclusive, and that includes opening their doors to billions of pounds of laundered drug money from all around the world. Bravo!

21
0
Free Lemming
Free Lemming
2 years ago

“…when it was bailed out by the government for £45 billion…” – it wasn’t bailed out by the government, the government has no money of its own, it was bailed out by the taxpayer. The government took our money, my money, your money, and gave it to NatWest. The government didn’t ask us, the government doesn’t ever feel the need to, because the government treats the people with contempt. The government demands our money and does what it wants with that money – bailing out banks, paying furlough, paying Sharon to stay at home with her 8 kids, paying for bend-the-knee training, paying for experimental shots that are killing and maiming people, paying to promote hatred and division of those that didn’t do as they were told. It doesn’t, however, bother to use our money to fix the roads, to get people back to work, to ease the self-imposed cost of living crisis, to put food on the damn table. The government has not only failed us, it is actively engaged in a silent war against its own people, and it using our money to wage that war. It is well past time that the people clearly drew the battle lines. I want this mob out of my home and I want my f*ckin money back.

88
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

Brilliant.

25
0
RW
RW
2 years ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

Unless I’m much mistaken, the government is also at least moving towards manufacturing crop failures by prohibiting irrigation in summer due to climate change and then claiming crop failures were caused by climate change. And that’s decidedly crossing the line from being disorganized and incompetent to being outright evil as food production cannot be reduced without people dying. Even when it’s (very likely) not going to hit us first. Rather the people in food exporting third-world countries, at least for a while. But killing black people in Africa is something even the most ardent anti-racist is always fine with.

25
0
The old bat
The old bat
2 years ago

Alright, I know I am delving into the realms of total fantasy here, but one could almost imagine that, sometime in the fairly recent past, we were invaded by an alien species that is ruthless, acquisitive and dual, or even multiple gendered. Slowly they have worked their way into every part of our lives and are trying to make us accepting of all things trans so they can blend in better. The WEF young leaders would be another battalion tasked with creating a totally digitally managed world and population.
Okay, a bit of daftness for a Sunday morning, but when I look at people like Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Whitty and Bill Gates, I do wonder if they have just zipped themselves in!

32
0
Mad Vlad
Mad Vlad
2 years ago
Reply to  The old bat

And Tony Blair – the lizard features are literally breaking out on his face.

27
0
Rowan
Rowan
2 years ago
Reply to  Mad Vlad

comment image&f=1&nofb=1

17
0
Mad Vlad
Mad Vlad
2 years ago
Reply to  Mad Vlad

Could just be the monkeypox, I suppose.

1
0
THE REAL NORMAL PODCAST
THE REAL NORMAL PODCAST
2 years ago

Honestly! I couldn’t give a bloomin’ toss what pronouns, sex, clothes, ideas, interests the staff at Halifax, or any other bank have.

I just want them to do good banking!
–
–
–
If you guys want to hear our latest podcast, then check it out and subscribe below:
Ep. 51 BANNED FROM TWITTER (Find out why)

We’ve been banned from Twitter for a week…find out why! Plus we talk Canada and Justin Trudeau, your first ‘Listener Rant’, Climate change madness, University PHD’s gone mad, Scotland’s gone crazy, The return of the Big Breakfast and MUCH MORE!
https://therealnormalpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1268768/11142910-ep-51-banned-from-twitter-find-out-why

Logo beer faces smaller mb.jpg
8
0
DomH75
DomH75
2 years ago

‘Stale, male and pale’: racist and sexist in four words! If there was any bank in the UK that refused to engage with this woke crap, I would move my personal and business accounts there right away, as clearly they don’t want a hard-working, conservative man as a customer! Unfortunately, I don’t know of any banks in the UK not up to their eyeballs with this nonsense.
I suppose from their point of view it isn’t a big deal: they’re owned by the state, they can offer staff the silly badges and pronouns at no cost and very few employees are likely to have any trans work done on them, given how trans people represent a tiny percentage of the population, no matter how many groomers in schools are messing with our children’s heads!
But if there were an alternative, I would tell NatWest to shove my old Woody’s Wobbly Wallchart and piggybank up their behinds and go elsewhere after 40 years of custom!

13
0
RTSC
RTSC
2 years ago

And if the trans people Nat West fund subsequently decide they made the wrong decision and were badly advised, I trust it will be Nat West paying the compensation as well.

I’m glad I’m not a customer of Nat West. It’s such a pain switching bank accounts.

5
0
Human Resource 19510203
Human Resource 19510203
2 years ago

I’ll never knowingly save or invest at NATWEST.

3
0
DevonBlueBoy
DevonBlueBoy
2 years ago

As wacky as this is; it’s an issue for the bank’s shareholders and management. If they agree then so be it. Those members of the public who still bank with this useless company and disagree are free to withdraw their money.

3
0
Covid-1984
Covid-1984
2 years ago

Drat, I was going to open a current account with the Nazi West after taking AndyM’s advice and closing my Halifax account but my cash is not funding Pagan activity. Byeeee.

3
0

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

In Episode 35 of the Sceptic: Andrew Doyle on Labour’s Grooming Gang Shame, Andrew Orlowski on the India-UK Trade Deal and Canada’s Ignored Covid Vaccine Injuries

by Richard Eldred
9 May 2025
4

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

BBC Quietly Edits Question Time After Wrongly ‘Correcting’ Richard Tice on Key Net Zero Claim

9 May 2025

Electric Car Bursts into Flames on Driveway and Engulfs £550,000 Family Home

9 May 2025

“I Was a Super Fit Cyclist Until I Had the Moderna Covid Vaccine. What Happened Next Left Me Wishing I Was Dead”

9 May 2025

News Round-Up

10 May 2025

Ed Miliband’s Housing Energy Plan Will Decimate the Rental Market and Send Rents Spiralling

10 May 2025

News Round-Up

46

Electric Car Bursts into Flames on Driveway and Engulfs £550,000 Family Home

25

BBC Quietly Edits Question Time After Wrongly ‘Correcting’ Richard Tice on Key Net Zero Claim

23

What Does David Lammy Mean by a State?

27

“I Was a Super Fit Cyclist Until I Had the Moderna Covid Vaccine. What Happened Next Left Me Wishing I Was Dead”

17

Teenage Girl Banned by the Football Association For Asking Transgender Opponent “Are You a Man?” Wins Appeal With Help of Free Speech Union

10 May 2025

Reflections on Empire, Papacy and States

10 May 2025

Ed Miliband’s Housing Energy Plan Will Decimate the Rental Market and Send Rents Spiralling

10 May 2025

News Round-Up

10 May 2025

BBC Quietly Edits Question Time After Wrongly ‘Correcting’ Richard Tice on Key Net Zero Claim

9 May 2025

POSTS BY DATE

August 2022
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Jul   Sep »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
wpDiscuz
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences