Under the heading of ”What does the CDC know” and to the ignorance of ”masks are not effective”, yesterday:
Wearing a mask protects the wearer, and not just other people, from the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized in an updated scientific brief issued Tuesday. And the protective benefits of masks are stronger the more people wear masks consistently and correctly, the agency says.
When the CDC first recommended that Americans wear cloth face coverings back in April, it cited evidence that the coronavirus could be transmitted by asymptomatic people who might not be aware of their infectiousness – a group estimated to account for more than 50% of transmissions. The agency said masks were intended to block virus-laden particles that might be emitted by an infected person.
In a report updated Tuesday, the CDC says that is still the primary intention of wearing masks. But it also cites growing evidence that even cloth masks can also reduce the amount of infectious droplets inhaled by the wearer.
In its new scientific brief, the CDC reviews the epidemiological and observational evidence on the use of masking and the spread of the coronavirus. That includes a study of 124 Beijing households where at least one person had a laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19. As we've reported, when everyone in the household wore masks as a preventative measure before the infected person started showing symptoms, the risk of transmission was cut by 79%.
Another study highlighted by the CDC found that among 1,000 people contact-traced in Thailand, those who reported always wearing a mask during high-risk exposures had a greater than 70% reduced risk of becoming infected compared with those who didn't wear masks under those circumstances.
Reaction from the orbital body where facts, science and data do not exist may follow.
