Masks off: “What if you discovered that even your surgeon's mask does not protect you from infections?”

01/08/2022 · Press review

We may tend to forget that the mask is not effective in viral or bacterial transmission. Remember: in Belgium the reserve stock was thrown away and some explained that masks were useless. Then stocks were rebuilt and the same people as ever decided that wearing a mask was becoming mandatory and vital to protect others and oneself. In France, Minister Véran was probably the best spokesperson against mask-wearing, citing all the serious studies that proved its ineffectiveness; as you will discover in this article, he was right!

“It has escaped no one's notice that the controversy over the usefulness of masks has been intense for months. There are 2 opposing camps.

The first, which considers, as it has for 100 years, that the mask is of no use in the general population and does not wish to wear one.
The second, which considers that the mask is self-evident, even though before 2020 they never wore one.

The arguments showing that masks are useless at containing infections are numerous, but those of our former Minister of Health are probably the best.”

“Before the French senators, on 24 September 2020, Mr Véran”

“Pointed out that ‘studies on masks show that it doesn't work’.^[1]
Asserted, on the same basis, on the same day (24/9/20), that if he had had ‘1 billion’ masks in April 2020, he would not have given them to the population. Because there was no scientific justification. ^[2]
Reasserted, on France info, in March 2022, that masks, including FFP2s, do not change the course of the epidemic. ^[3]”

“At this point in the discussion, when it comes to defending masks in terms of their effectiveness in reducing microbial contamination, the argument often given, as a last resort, is the following:

‘Surgeons wear them!
That's proof that it's effective and useful against infections.’

One might quite naturally think that this is the case, that they protect patients from the microbial contamination responsible for post-operative infections.”

[…]

“But that is not the case!”

“The mask has no effect on post-operative hospital-acquired infections.”

"The mask is incapable of reducing infections in patients in the operating theatre, and we have known this for decades."

"When people questioned the legitimacy of masks in operating theatres, they began by assessing the quantity of bacteria present in the air of the theatres depending on whether or not masks were worn."

What do the studies say?

“The protocol was simple: at the end of each day, the number of bacteria present in the air of the theatres was measured and related to whether or not masks were present.”

“One of the first studies dates from 1975. It covered 8 operating theatres: the mask showed no effect. ^[4]”

“2001, same result. ^[5]”

“Then the researchers turned to clinical practice, assessing the number of post-operative infections.”

“Here too the protocol is very simple. All you have to do is count the number of infections occurring during surgery with and without masks, calculate the rate and compare them.”

“A study of this type was carried out in 1991 over 115 weeks on 3,088 operations, half performed without masks and half with masks.^[6]”

“The results showed 73 infections in surgeries with masks and only 55 without masks, giving respective rates of 4.7% and 3.5%”

bas-les-masques-et-si-vous-decouvriez-que-meme-le-masque-de-votre-chirurgien-ne-vous-protege-pas-des-infections

“The conclusion is easy to draw: the use of masks in surgery is of no benefit, with no protective effect for patients.”

“In 2010, another study of the same type was carried out on obstetric, gynaecological, general, orthopaedic, breast and urological surgeries performed on 827 patients.^[7]

“Here too, all staff members wore masks in half of the surgeries, and none of the members wore masks in the other half of the surgeries.”

[…]

The mask does not reduce patient contamination

“The conclusion is easy to draw: the use of masks in surgery is of no benefit, with no protective effect for patients.”

“Of course, other studies of the same type have been carried out over time. The results are always the same: the mask does not reduce patient contamination”

“1981, 6 months without masks did not result in more post-operative infections. ^[8]
1991, the mask is not useful. ^[9]
2001, a meta-analysis concludes that masks are useless (it is actually even worse). ^[10]
2009, no significant difference in the incidence of post-operative wound infections. In fact, there was even a significant decrease in the infection rate (p<0.05). ^[11]
2010, the mask is really not useful for the team around the surgeon. ^[12]
2014, Cochrane concludes on the basis of 3 trials (2,113 participants): no difference in infection rates between the masked and unmasked groups. ^[13]
2014, 4,000 patients, no difference. ^[14]
2015, a meta-analysis of 2,106 participants showed a lack of substantial evidence to support claims that face masks protect the patient or the surgeon from infectious contamination. ^[15]”

“There are others that give the same results.”

“To avoid confirmation bias, that is, the tendency to seek out primarily the information that confirms one's way of thinking and to neglect anything that might call it into question, we searched assiduously, but it was not possible to find studies showing a benefit of the mask in reducing post-operative iatrogenic infections.”

“So why do surgeons wear a mask?”

“Out of habit and in the belief that they are protecting patients. Not on the basis of an analysis of the scientific data produced on this subject.”

“It should be noted, however, that mask-wearing by healthcare workers is not useless, since it protects them from possible splashes of fluids and biological matter from the patient.”

“Moreover, all the bodies that have issued general guidelines recommend wearing a mask when there is a risk of splashes of blood or other biological fluids. ^[16]”

Deeply rooted beliefs

“It is therefore incorrect to believe that the mask reduces contamination during surgical or medical procedures.”

“Despite the evidence, this belief remains deeply rooted in the medical community.”

“By extension, we must also accept that the mask, mandatory for almost 2 years, is of no use, as Health Minister Mr Véran said (after having made it mandatory…).”

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of BAM!

The standfirst and some subheadings are by the BAM! editorial team.

^[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn5oK8ld6HY&feature=youtu.be&t=11128

^[2]https://youtu.be/hqjfm4huWoQ?t=205

^[3]https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-radio/8h30-fauvelle-dely/levee-des-restrictions-covid-19-accueil-des-malades-ukrainiens-retraites-le-8h30-franceinfo-d-olivier-veran_4988409.html at 2 minutes

^[4]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1157412/

^[5]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11760479/

^[6]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1853618/

^[7]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20575920/

^[8]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7294681/

^[9]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1680906/

^[10]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11512642/