June 25th 2023
The Editor, The Grapevine
Denman Island
theislandsgrapevine@gmail.com
Dear Editor, This letter is in response to Stephen Malthouse’s letter of June 22nd. He asserts that masks do not block viruses. He ignores the real-world evidence to the contrary. I accept that virus particles are so small that they could pass through most filters. Respiratory viruses, which is what masks are designed to block, do not travel on their own, they travel in respiratory droplets which are orders of magnitude larger than virus particles themselves. During the winters of 2020 and 2021 the incidence of influenza infections was much lower than in previous years. The only reasonable explanation is that it was the effect of a large part of the population wearing masks. Influenza is a respiratory virus. There is also the increased Covid 19 infection rates in those who did not wear masks during the height of the pandemic compared with those who did wear masks. The Cochrane Review that Malthouse refers to was, to quote the editor-in-chief of the Cochrane Library, “misinterpreted and that the review didn’t find that masks do not work”. Studies from prestigious universities around the world, published in peer reviewed journals, show that masks do reduce the incidence of respiratory infections. The other many unsupported assertions in the letter against mask wearing are part of the anti-mask propaganda to use mis-information and dis-information to spread their beliefs despite the well-recognised harms that will be incurred by the at-risk groups; the unimmunised, the elderly and those with pre-existing heart and lung disease. David Scruton
