re: The only randomized control trial of cloth masks vs surgical masks

Part 4

Yezli and Otter (2011), in their review of the MID, point out relevant features:
1. Most respiratory viruses are as infective in humans as in tissue culture having optimal laboratory susceptibility
2. It is believed that a single virion can be enough to induce illness in the host
3. The 50-percent probability MID (“TCID50”) has variably been found to be in the range 100-1000 virions
4. There are typically 10 to 3rd power - 10 to 7th power virions per aerolized influenza droplet with diameter 1 µm - 10 µm
5. The 50-percent probability MID easily fits into a single (one) aerolized droplet
6. For further background:
7. A classic description of dose-response assessment is provided by Haas (1993).
8. Zwart et al. (2009) provided the first laboratory proof, in a virus-insect system, that the action of a single virion can be sufficient to cause disease.
9. Baccam et al. (2006) calculated from empirical data that, with influenza A in humans,“we estimate that after a delay of ~6 h, infected cells begin producing influenza virus and continue to do so for ~5 h. The average lifetime of infected cells is ~11 h, and the half-life of free infectious virus is ~3 h. We calculated the [in-body] basic reproductive number, R0, which indicated that a single infected cell could produce ~22 new productive infections.”
10. Brooke et al. (2013) showed that, contrary to prior modeling assumptions, although not all influenza-A-infected cells in the human body produce infectious progeny (virions), nonetheless, 90 percent of infected cell are significantly impacted, rather than simply surviving unharmed.
All of this to say that: if anything gets through (and it always does, irrespective of the mask), then you are going to be infected. Masks cannot possibly work. It is not surprising, therefore, that no bias-free study has ever found a benefit from wearing a mask or respirator in this application.
Therefore, the studies that show partial stopping power of masks, or that show that masks can capture many large droplets produced by a sneezing or coughing mask-wearer, in light of the above-described features of the problem, are irrelevant. For example, such studies as these: Leung (2020), Davies (2013), Lai (2012), and Sande (2008).
Why There Can Never Be an Empirical Test of a Nation-Wide Mask-Wearing Policy
As mentioned above, no study exists that shows a benefit from a broad policy to wear masks in public. There is good reason for this. It would be impossible to obtain unambiguous and bias-free results [because]:
1. Any benefit from mask-wearing would have to be a small effect, since undetected in controlled experiments, which would be swamped by the larger effects, notably the large effect from changing atmospheric humidity.
2. Mask compliance and mask adjustment habits would be unknown.
3. Mask-wearing is associated (correlated) with several other health behaviors; see Wada (2012).
4. The results would not be transferable, because of differing cultural habits.
5. Compliance is achieved by fear, and individuals can habituate to fear-based propaganda, and can have disparate basic responses.
6. Monitoring and compliance measurement are near-impossible, and subject to large errors.
7. Self-reporting (such as in surveys) is notoriously biased, because individuals have the self-interested belief that their efforts are useful.
8. Progression of the epidemic is not verified with reliable tests on large population samples, and generally relies on non-representative hospital visits or admissions.
9. Several different pathogens (viruses and strains of viruses) causing respiratory illness generally act together, in the same population and/or in individuals, and are not resolved, while having different epidemiological characteristics.
Unknown Aspects of Mask Wearing
Many potential harms may arise from broad public policies to wear masks, and the following unanswered questions arise:
1. Do used and loaded masks become sources of enhanced transmission, for the wearer and others?
2. Do masks become collectors and retainers of pathogens that the mask wearer would otherwise avoid when breathing without a mask?
3. Are large droplets captured by a mask atomized or aerolized into breathable components? Can virions escape an evaporating droplet stuck to a mask fiber?
4. What are the dangers of bacterial growth on a used and loaded mask?
5. How do pathogen-laden droplets interact with environmental dust and aerosols captured on the mask?
6. What are long-term health effects on HCW, such as headaches, arising from impeded breathing?
7. Are there negative social consequences to a masked society?
8. Are there negative psychological consequences to wearing a mask, as a fear-based behavioral modification?
9. What are the environmental consequences of mask manufacturing and disposal?
10. Do the masks shed fibers or substances that are harmful when inhaled?
Conclusion
By making mask-wearing recommendations and policies for the general public, or by expressly condoning the practice, governments have both ignored the scientific evidence and done the opposite of following the precautionary principle.
In an absence of knowledge, governments should not make policies that have a hypothetical potential to cause harm. The government has an onus barrier before it instigates a broad social-engineering intervention, or allows corporations to exploit fear-based sentiments.
Furthermore, individuals should know that there is no known benefit arising from wearing a mask in a viral respiratory illness epidemic, and that scientific studies have shown that any benefit must be residually small, compared to other and determinative factors.
Otherwise, what is the point of publicly funded science?
The present paper about masks illustrates the degree to which governments, the mainstream media, and institutional propagandists can decide to operate in a science vacuum, or select only incomplete science that serves their interests. Such recklessness is also certainly the case with the current global lockdown of over 1 billion people, an unprecedented experiment in medical and political history.