Editor:
A Davis Bay letter writer blasts Coast Reporter for permitting discussion of mask efficacy. Wow. Such closed-mindedness deserves to be pried open a little. Here goes.
The new mask study comes from The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The review has long been considered the gold standard of evidence-based medicine. Cochrane’s conclusion that masks aren’t much help was met with outrage. Outrage from non-scientists. Influencers with enough clout to coerce Cochrane’s editor to apologize. The scientists behind the study were blindsided by the retraction.
One of the report’s lead authors, Tom Jefferson, is upset. “The apology issued by Cochrane is from [the editor], not from the authors of the review.” Jefferson stands by his team’s conclusion (as dodgy as some studies were) that “there is just no evidence that they [masks] make any difference. Full stop.”
Scientists being the copyright holders in the report, only they may make cuts or addendums, says Jefferson: “We do not change our reviews on the basis of what the media wants.”
Hard to believe that decades of scientific evidence about masks were so easily dismissed to solidify the rituals of the mask cult. Wow.
Fellow Coasters! We should make up our minds about who we’re going to believe as we search for answers. Scientists who author reports, or influencers whose beliefs are past their shelf life.
PJ Reece, Gibsons
