Shoddy Research on Lockdowns Used to Falsely Claim That Masks Don't Work


A recent study has concluded that lockdowns don't work. It is being bandied-about by conservative media as proof that other pandemic mitigation measures like masks don't work either.

The study is a meta-analysis, which statistically combines the results of other, smaller studies to gain  power to detect differences. It was done by some some economists—not epidemiologists. 

It was published in a journal that is not peer-reviewed and was founded by a coauthor of the paper. That guy also happens to be a fellow at the arch-conservative Cato Institute. Talk about motivated reasoning.

Public health experts criticized the study, saying it used an squishy definition of lockdowns. It also did not properly account for complex disease processes such as the wide variation in time it takes for infected people to die.

Despite this, Rand Paul wasted no time taking the study at face value, claiming that lockdowns do more harm than good. He also said that masks don't work. Wait...wasn't this study about lockdowns? Another former GOP representative said—based on his gut feeling I guess—that future studies will show that none of our mitigation measures, including masks, worked.

Well, masks do work. It's not even debatable.  You can see it for yourself. The CDC recently published results of a randomized controlled trial showing that surgical masks lower the chances of infection by 66%, and N95 or KN95 masks reduces the chances of infection by 83%.

There is also the meta-analysis—done by actual epidemiologists, not economists—published in a respected and peer reviewed medical journal. It concluded that masks are the best non-pharmaceutical means to prevent infection. Another study in a prestigious journal also showed that masks work.

Then there's the study they did in Missouri showing that a statewide mask mandate would have saved 1900 lives in 2020. And then there's the other study that reached similar conclusions in neighboring Kansas.

But hey, Rand Paul and his pals don't need sound research. They have a shoddy study by unqualified researchers pursuing an agenda, published unreviewed in an unserious journal, on a different topic, that they can twist to "prove" whatever they want.

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