Study Finds Masks Don’t Reduce COVID-19 Infection Rate By 50% Threshold

An observer is removed from the hall by police after refusing to properly wear a mask as election officials begin the recount process of ballots from the November 3 election at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee on Nov. 20, 2020. Scott Olson/Getty Images

A recent study designed to detect whether wearing masks could more than halve the rate of COVID-19 infection found that they could not, but left open the possibility of some degree of lesser protection.

“We designed the study to detect a reduction in infection rate from 2 percent to 1 percent. Although no statistically significant difference in SARS-CoV-2 incidence was observed, the 95 percent CIs [Confidence Intervals] are compatible with a possible 46 percent reduction to 23 percent  increase in infection among mask wearers,” the authors wrote.