The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has evidently lost faith in the very science Americans were instructed to blindly trust during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After CDC scientists found that, when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19, there’s no difference between cheap surgical masks and N95 respirators, the CDC trashed their narrative-busting findings, warning the CDC scientists that their finding on masks “is not scientifically correct.”
According to investigative journalist Paul D. Thacker, “This is how agency retaliation against scientists begins.”
1) The CDC is now warning CDC scientists that their finding on masks “is not scientifically correct” because they found N95 respirators aren’t better than surgical masks.
This is how agency retaliation against scientists begins. https://t.co/BFgZMeZk6T pic.twitter.com/qTwXtAdYWc
— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) February 8, 2024
“CDC Director Mandy Cohen is all in on masks,” Thacker reported on X. “During congressional testimony last November, she would not explain whether she would bring back mask mandates for toddlers.”
“Six days later,” he continued, “a BMJ journal published a study that found ‘mask recommendations for children are not supported by scientific evidence.'”
3) Six days later, a BMJ journal published a study that found “mask recommendations for children are not supported by scientific evidence.” pic.twitter.com/VHjV1HGohE
— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) February 8, 2024
In his Substack report, Thacker writes:
Director Cohen’s scientific bumbling continued last week as her agency began fighting with CDC’s own researchers over another contentious declaration: N95 respirators work better than surgical masks. In recent years, mask advocates have shifted goalposts and demanded N95 respirators, which they claim perform better than surgical masks at stopping the COVID virus.
Not true say CDC’s own scientists, according to CDC documents I uncovered.
“During a presentation last summer, a CDC expert stated there was no difference between N95 respirators and masks in stopping viruses. These findings have been supported by CDC scientists in a study CDC published on the agency’s website last November—just a few weeks before Director Cohen testified before Congress,” Thacker explains. “To shut down this controversy, CDC wrote a blog last week warning researchers that to suggest that facemasks and respirators are the same “is not scientifically correct.”
The agency has long been at odds with its own scientists over the mask controversy.
When, in May 2020, the CDC published a “policy study in their own journal” that found surgical masks have no “substantial effect” on the spread of the virus, the agency “started plugging N95 respirators as superior to simple surgical masks.”
“However, on their webpage promoting the superiority of N95 respirators, the CDC did add one critical disclaimer: there’s not a whole lot of evidence that N95 respirators do in fact work better than masks at stopping viruses,” Thacker reports. “In one example, CDC noted that a 2019 study in JAMA compared respirators to masks and found ‘no significant difference.'”
“No difference” was also the conclusion reached by CDC scientists last summer and again after a “systematic review” that looked at “real world” evidence.
6) CDC scientists then did what’s called a “systematic review” and looked at “real world” evidence, not lab studies. They posted it on the CDC website in November.
Guess what they found? “No difference” pic.twitter.com/EpBlIDGlsh
— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) February 8, 2024
The CDC hit back in a blog posted last week, warning readers that their scientists got the science all wrong.
“Although masks can provide some level of filtration, the level of filtration is not comparable to NIOSH Approved respirators,” the agency stated.
In light of the mask mayhem, Thacker has called on whistleblowers from within the CDC to come forward.
“I’m putting a call out to whistleblowers inside the CDC who would like to discuss what is going on inside the agency,” he writes.
“More than 4 decades of clinical data show ZERO measurable benefit from masking…” noted one user on X. “It was never about ‘tHe SCiEncE.'”
More than 4 decades of clinical data show ZERO measurable benefit from masking…
It was never about “tHe SCiEncE” https://t.co/B68dlrr8WJ— David Brenneman (@IagreeNdisagree) February 9, 2024
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