Non pharmaceutical interventions have been controversial throughout COVID and one of the most controversial NPI’s has been the introduction of mandatory face masks. We have many pre 2020 studies that show no benefit of wearing face masks in the community to retard the spread of influenza type viruses. We have a handful of studies post 2020 that suggests wearing facemasks could help to retard the spread of highly infectious viruses such as SARS-COV-2.

To me this appears to be contradictory and something has gone wrong with the science since the start of the pandemic. We will use data to look at the efficacy of face masks and to make sense of this paradoxical reality. At the start of 2022 the UK Government announced the re-introduction of face masks in secondary schools. This is unforgiveable and will harm our children even more. With this in mind we must educate ourselves to the benefits of face masks.

COVID restrictions were lifted in England on the 19th July, mandatory face masks was one of these restrictions that was lifted. These restrictions were then reintroduced on the 20th December 2021 in England. Scotland decided to keep mandatory face masks and other restrictions during this time. This allows us to compare infection rates and deaths in these countries between July and December to see if NPI’s such as mandatory face masks retarded the spread of COVID.

I’ve added 2 graphs below that shows deaths and cases per 1,000,000 people in England and Scotland. As you can see England has had more cases and deaths than Scotland throughout COVID, this can be seen in the legend of the graphs.

Comparing Scotland and England post 19th July 2021

Now we will look at cases and deaths in the two countries between 19th July and 20th December 2021.

As you can see from the above graphs Scotland had a higher death rate after England removed mandatory masks and a marginally lower case rate. If masks had a meaningful affect on COVID-19 transmission we would have expected to have seen a significant increase in English cases when compared to Scotland after the 19th July. This proves that the NPI’s implemented in Scotland has had little to no effect and should be reconsidered by their Government. Most people in England stopped wearing masks 2 weeks after the 19th July and after this time mask wearers were in the minority in urban areas. Mask wearing continued in rural areas for a little longer and some vulnerable people continued to wear masks in England. However it is clear to see that over 50% of people in England stopped wearing masks and as a result we would have expected to see a significant rise in cases when compared to Scotland if these masks worked.

We must say no to community wearing of masks. Germany had strict mask wearing rules where people had to wear N95 masks. Even these medical grade masks did not retard transmission as they had higher transmission rates than the UK during 2021. The reason why masks don’t work is probably due to protocols that ordinary people use when putting masks on and taking them off. The masks are already contaminated before they are worn and most people use dirty masks not changing them regularly. With this in mind I accept that masks could be beneficial in high risk areas where procedures can be adhered to by highly trained staff such as in hospitals. Masks should not be worn in school by children this move is incredibly disturbing and will do great harm to them. The data shown on this page adds to the already huge amount of evidence informing us that mask wearing is not to control the virus but to control the people through submission. Lets swap the masks for smiles and get out of this mess once and for all.