Study: Lack of Negative Correlations between Mask Usage and COVID-19 Cases and Deaths

An observational study published on 19 April 2022 titled “Correlation Between Mask Compliance and COVID-19 Outcomes in Europe” by B. Spira found that masks are practically useless during the so-called pandemic.

The study analyzed the correlation between mask usage against cases and mortality rates in Europe during a six-month period from October 2020 to March 2021. Included were 35 European countries with a population higher than one million people, a total of 602 million people. All had peak infections during said period.

Surprisingly, weak positive correlations were observed when mask compliance was plotted against morbidity (cases/million) or mortality (deaths/million) in each country (Figure 3). … The positive correlation between mask usage and cases was not statistically significant (rho = 0.136, p = 0.436), while the correlation between mask usage and deaths was positive and significant (rho = 0.351, p = 0.039).

In other words, higher mask compliance goes with higher number of cases and deaths. Whether mask-wearing was the actual cause is another matter.

Figure 3: Correlation between average mask compliance and cases/million (A) or deaths/million (B) in 35 European countries.

In short, “the lack of negative correlations between mask usage and COVID-19 cases and deaths suggest that the widespread use of masks at a time when an effective intervention was most needed … was not able to reduce COVID-19 transmission.”

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