The CCP Loves Masks—But Where Is the Scientific Evidence That Masks Work?

Patients line up for an emergency precheck at the new pediatric building of Xinhua Hospital in Shanghai, China, on the night of Sept. 25, 2023. The emergency and night care outpatient hall is crowded with children and family members waiting for treatment. CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Commentary

Lately, there has been a spate of articles in Chinese state-run media about new virus outbreaks in China and soothing commentary about how health authorities have everything well in hand. It is, after all, the cold and flu season.

Through all the folderol from China Daily and Xinhua et al., there is a common thread that serves Chinese Communist Party (CCP) objectives, and that is masks.

Let us examine the topic.

Chinese Media Reports Feature Masks

Photos of mask-wearing Chinese have become a staple in Chinese media from early 2020 to the present day. The science behind masks is never discussed, but the continuing stream of photos implies that “masks work.” Here are a few examples:

A masked woman on a Beijing escalator in a South China Morning Post article on Feb. 10, 2020.

Masked pedestrians in Shanghai in The Strait Times on April 2, 2020.

A hazmat-suited medical worker in Yinchaun takes a saliva swab from a masked woman in a China Daily report on Oct. 28, 2021.

Masked employees making daily food deliveries in Shanghai in a China Daily report on April 13, 2022.

A masked medical worker injects a masked senior citizen in a Beijing hospital in another China Daily report on Dec. 13, 2022.

Fast-forward to 2023, and here are a couple of recent headlines from Chinese media concerning viruses and masks, as the CCP keeps gaslighting about wearing masks and fear-mongering about COVID-19.

From South China Morning Post on Nov. 28: “China calls for people to ‘minimise personal movement and visits’ as respiratory illness cases surge” (features a mask-wearing child).

From China Daily on Dec. 17: “New COVID strain poses low risk” (an embedded picture depicts masked sick children awaiting diagnosis and treatment at a Beijing hospital).

Masks, masks, and more masks! People wearing masks have become a staple of Chinese media reporting. The Chinese people have been conditioned to wear masks through the CCP’s blending of fear of the coronavirus with a psychological reflexive response to communist control over everyday lives.

The Truth About Masks

Contrary to widespread belief that masks work, there is increasing evidence that masks have no utility whatsoever in protecting against the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. Various studies have borne out those truths.

The Brownstone Institute published an article in December 2021 that should have been a red flag about the uselessness of, and possible harms from, the wearing of masks. The article cited, linked, and summarized the conclusions of 167 studies and pieces of evidence that showed the ineffectiveness of masks and the potential harms of wearing them over extended periods. An example of one of the conclusions from a 2010 study (!): “Results obtained in the study show that common fabric materials may provide marginal protection against nanoparticles including those in the size ranges of virus-containing particles in exhaled breath.”

A peer-reviewed study by Norwegian researchers published by the Cambridge University Press on Nov. 13, titled “Association between face mask use and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection: Cross-sectional study,” determined that regular mask-wearers had a 74–75 percent higher risk of testing positive for COVID-19 than those who didn’t wear masks.

“The crude estimates show a higher incidence of testing positive for COVID-19 in the groups that used face masks more frequently, with 8.6% of participants having never or almost never used masks, 15.0% having sometimes used masks, and 15.1% having almost always or always used masks reporting a positive test result,” according to the report.

In January this year, the Cochrane Library posted the results of a study that analyzed 78 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving “physical interventions (screening at entry ports, isolation, quarantine, physical distancing, personal protection, hand hygiene, face masks, glasses, and gargling) to prevent respiratory virus transmission” of various viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

The conclusion: “The pooled results of RCTs did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks. There were no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators in healthcare workers when used in routine care to reduce respiratory viral infection.”

On Nov. 3, the British Medical Journal published a study titled “Child mask mandates for COVID-19: a systematic review.” The effort screened 597 studies, of which 22 were used in the final analysis, drawing the following conclusions: “Real-world effectiveness of child mask mandates against SARS- CoV- 2 transmission or infection has not been demonstrated with high-quality evidence. The current body of scientific data does not support masking children for protection against COVID-19 [emphasis added].”

Concluding Thoughts

In addition to the Chinese, some Americans and others have also become veritable “mask-o-philes” due to relentless government pressure (gaslighting) to wear masks. Public health agencies in many countries around the world implemented mask mandates in early 2020 as COVID-19 was spreading far and wide and strongly encouraged people to wear masks, especially in public places. That messaging continues to this day in some countries without any scientific evidence proving that masks actually work.

This is what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “updated” on their website in August 2021: “Masking is a critical public health tool and it is important to remember that any mask is better than no mask.”

Despite the above studies showing the ineffectiveness of masks, that CDC link is still active two years later!

Surely, the CCP is aware of those mask studies, as many Chinese citizens are almost certainly also aware. The question is, why do Chinese state-run media continue to show Chinese wearing masks (seemingly everywhere)? The only satisfactory answer can be for gaslighting purposes and to maintain the fiction that masks actually have utility (the only real utility being to psychologically browbeat people into accepting more authoritarian controls by the communists).

Remember this as the Biden administration and Democrat governors across the United States begin to push masks in the country this winter. A Newsweek article in August listed several hospitals, schools, and businesses that have already reinstituted mask mandates. And here is an article from just two weeks ago in which CDC Director Mandy Cohen advises people to “mask up” again “to protect themselves against respiratory illnesses heading into the holidays.”

Is the mask-wearing propaganda psychologically preparing Americans to head down the path of authoritarian social controls being blazed by communist China?

We follow the advice to “mask up” at our collective peril—in more ways than one!

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.