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CDC's call for people to mask up for flu, RSV provokes backlash due to thin evidence it works

CDC's call for people to mask up for flu, RSV provokes backlash due to thin evidence it works

CDC's call for people to mask up for flu, RSV provokes backlash due to thin evidence it works
Dec 06, 2022 1 min, 56 secs

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says wearing masks is a good way to prevent a trifecta of respiratory illnesses, prompting outrage among Americans who feel the agency is deploying a polarizing COVID-19 tool against viruses that have been circulating for decades but never triggered similar guidance.

Health officials use the system to determine how much damage the coronavirus is causing in a given area and whether to advise wearing masks.

During the height of the COVID-19 crisis, critics of the CDC warned that federal officials would pressure Americans into using masks as a tool against a never-ending array of pathogens.

“Now, some people will sentence themselves to masking annually forever just because some bureaucrat in Atlanta refuses to say they made a mistake,” said Phil Kerpen, a free market advocate at American Commitment and a vocal critic of COVID-19 rules.

He said masks didn’t work in corralling the coronavirus.

Kerpen pointed to a May 2020 study on the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases page that said a pooled analysis of studies from 1946 to 2018 “found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks.”.

Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said her department would consider a mandate if Los Angeles County tips into the CDC’s “high” community level of COVID-19 transmission and if the daily average hospital admission rate reaches more than 10 per 100,000 residents and more than 10% of staffed inpatient beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Her comments focused on COVID-19, but, like the CDC, she said the presence of other viruses is a factor in voluntary mask-wearing.

Confusion was swirling at the federal level in early 2020 about whether masks would prevent the spread of the coronavirus or whether enough masks were available.

A randomized trial of 350,000 people in Bangladesh found that surgical masks, though not cloth masks, reduced transmission.

Walensky said the CDC continues to advise wearing masks on public transportation, although a federal mandate requiring face coverings fell away in the spring.

Analysts said some liberal jurisdictions might bring back mandates, though likely as a temporary measure strictly to preserve hospital capacity, given the extent of mask fatigue and public backlash.

CDC recommends well-fitted N95 masks, which are likely to be significantly more effective than surgical masks,” Mr

“The problem is that most people don’t wear well-fitted N95 masks consistently and properly

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