CDC Tries to Lie About Mask Ineffectiveness But Ends Up Confirming It

In a study examining the association between state-issued mask mandates and in-person dining with COVID-19 cases and deaths, the CDC itself confirmed no statistical difference between counties that masked up and closed down and those that didn’t.

Yet they used the thinnest of statistical differences to claim something entirely different. In the study, they lead with the following “fact”:

Universal masking and avoiding nonessential indoor spaces are recommended to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Then what is “added” by their report:

Mandating masks was associated with a decrease in daily COVID-19 case and death growth rates within 20 days of implementation. Allowing on-premises restaurant dining was associated with an increase in daily COVID-19 case growth rates 41–100 days after implementation and an increase in daily death growth rates 61–100 days after implementation.

Notice the rhetorical trickery – the “known” information is that universal masking and avoiding indoor gatherings are recommended. Recommended by the same so-called experts that have gotten just about every part of the so-called pandemic wrong from the beginning. It shouldn’t need to be said that people recommending something is not the same as their being data that recommends it.

In the “added” section, the CDC conveniently leaves out any quantifiers when they say masks decrease cases and deaths, or that on-premises dining increases case and death daily growth rates. They simply leave readers with the headline that masks work and opening restaurants was a bad idea.

After the report narrates all of the mathematical particulars of the study (to lull the reader into not going any further, apparently), they reveal the real story (emphasis mine):

During March 1–December 31, 2020, state-issued mask mandates applied in 2,313 (73.6%) of the 3,142 U.S. counties. Mask mandates were associated with a 0.5 percentage point decrease (p = 0.02) in daily COVID-19 case growth rates 1–20 days after implementation and decreases of 1.1, 1.5, 1.7, and 1.8 percentage points 21–40, 41–60, 61–80, and 81–100 days, respectively, after implementation (p<0.01 for all) (Table 1) (Figure). Mask mandates were associated with a 0.7 percentage point decrease (p = 0.03) in daily COVID-19 death growth rates 1–20 days after implementation and decreases of 1.0, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.9 percentage points 21–40, 41–60, 61–80, and 81–100 days, respectively, after implementation (p<0.01 for all). Daily case and death growth rates before implementation of mask mandates were not statistically different from the reference period.

That’s right – mask mandates apparently reduced the growth rate of cases by a whopping 1.5% and the growth in death rates by around 1% (easily within the margin of error). More tellingly, in the counties that mandated masks, there was no statistical difference before and after mandates were implemented! Similar results were determined for the reopening of in-person dining. The study proves yet again that masks and restaurant shutdowns don’t do anything to change the trajectory of the novel coronavirus.

Yet the CDC has the Orwellian audacity to write later that “Mask mandates were associated with statistically significant decreases in county-level daily COVID-19 case and death growth rates within 20 days of implementation..” in a study where the difference is within the margin of error.

The government continues to move the goalposts, change definitions, and outright lie to the public to cover up their incompetence. This latest falsehood is a new low – even for the CDC.