Here is an interesting study for public health bureaucrats to consider: Mask usage is correlated with excess mortality in Europe.
A couple of things to consider: The mask usage was self-reported and mask usage was often required along with other NPIs. Countries that had looser mask requirement also had fewer other draconian COVID policies.
To me it makes sense. Isolate people, force them to stay 6 feet away from people, and wear a mask non-stop and they are going to be lonely and depressed. There are very few people who can wear a mask non-stop and not go crazy. It is well-known that the suicide rate skyrocketed during the COVID
pandemicpanic - some of the excess death was probably from that.
Or people that wore masks had a false sense of security and took more risks like eating at restaurants.
The study seems to lump all of the data together and doesn't investigate if there were any differences in the correlation between mask usage and excess mortality during separate covid waves. So, there's still a chance that masking helped during the first few months.
The same study claims that vaccines correlated with less excess mortality. Makes sense or are you going to cherry-pick?
The multivariate regression analysis revealed a statistically significant positive association between excess deaths and masks, as well as a statistically significant negative association between excess deaths and vaccination rates.
Edited by Florin, 22 March 2025 - 06:24 PM.
