After questioning the value of general mask wearing early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) decided the practice was so demonstrably effective that it should be legally mandated even for 2-year-olds. A new review of the evidence suggests the CDC had it right the first time.
That review, published by the Cochrane Library, an authoritative collection of scientific databases, analyzed 18 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that aimed to measure the impact of surgical masks or N95 respirators on the transmission of respiratory viruses. It found that wearing a mask in public places "probably makes little or no difference" in the number of infections.
