Wearing Masks to Prevent Infection Is Not Evidence-Based Medicine: Experts
It is not scientifically or medically possible to mandate the wearing of masks in public places and hospitals to prevent infection. COVID-19 Experts said that the virus could also be caused by other viruses in a letter to the Israel Medical Association Journal.
Yoav and Amnon Yehezkelli wrote the letter. It was published in December 2022. Yehezkelli is an expert in internal medicine and management. He is also a Lieutenant. Colonel (Res.) in the Israel Defense Forces, and one of the founders of the Epidemic Management Team and Evaluation Programs for Extreme Biological Incidents—a professional body that advises the Director General of the Israel Ministry of Health (MoH). Lahad is the Chairman of the National Council for the Health of the Community as well as the Head of the Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The letter “Masks for Prevention of Respiratory Infections—Is It Evidence-Based Medicine?” addressed mask mandates, which remain mandatory in medical facilities in Israel.
Both authors are members the Public Emergency Council for the COVID-19 Crisis(PECC), an independent organization composed of Israeli physicians, researchers, social welfare professionals, and others.
Evidence-Based Medicine is not available
Yehezkelli explained to The Epoch Times that before the COVID-19 pandemic there was no data available about respiratory viruses, including influenza, and other types of coronaviruses.
“All the studies done in the world until 2020 showed that there is no justification for this,” He said.
Yehezkelli said that both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO), have shown that masks are unnecessary for general public.
According to him, the use of masks in Eastern countries does not have any professional basis.
The recommendation to wear masks in Israel and other parts of the world has changed dramatically for 2020 “without having any new professional support to confirm that it does indeed have effectiveness against respiratory infection,” He said.
“Most of the studies on the subject during the epidemic suffer from low quality and many biases,” according to the authors’ letter.
Yehezkelli explained that since the outbreak of pandemics, only two quality controlled studies have been conducted. One was done in Denmark The other was done in ahref=”https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abi9069?rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org”>Bangladesh.
While the Bangladesh study found some marginal benefits for people over 50 years of age, overall both studies proved to be valid. “that there is no benefit in wearing masks to prevent infection with the coronavirus,” Yehezkelli said, adding “that’s actually what I wrote in this review, that it doesn’t actually have a professional justification.”
However, he stated that studies show that wearing masks may cause some harm.
Wearing a mask could be harmful to your health
According to the letter, several observational studies show that wearing masks can cause some harm including headaches, concentration difficulties, shortness of breath, a decrease in blood oxygen levels, an increase in the level of carbon dioxide, bacterial contamination From the mask itself.
According to Yehezkelli, the accumulation of carbon dioxide—at levels that sometimes exceed the permitted standard—might cause tiredness, blurriness, sleepiness, and deficiency in judgment and thinking.
People with hearing impairments who have to read lips or children might experience communication difficulties. Yehezkelli said that it is crucial for children to see a person for their language development. Some studies show the negative effect of wearing masks on communication and children’s development.
Position paperPDF(published March 31, 2021 by the PECC. After a thorough review of medical literature, the PECC recommended that children not wear masks for prolonged periods of time. “due to concerns for actual harm to their health and development.”
Medical Facilities
Yehezkelli, who was also a lecturer at Tel Aviv University’s Department of Emergency and Disaster Management, said that there are certain situations in which masks can be justified.
Medical treatment is when a patient with a lung disease is carefully examined by medical staff. This is especially true in the case COVID-19. “there is justification for wearing masks by both the therapist and the patient,” He said.
Yehezkelli, a family physician, said that he was a good doctor. “when a patient comes to me with leg pain, there is no reason for him or me to wear a mask. If a patient comes in with anemia, there is no reason, either.”
He said that the relationship between doctor and patient is crucial in a medical encounter. The lack of empathy between the doctor and patient is impeded by masks.
At the moment, Israel still has a directive prohibiting mask-wearing in health and welfare facilities. “actually has no justification,” said Yehezkelli.
MoH Mask Recommendation
According to the MoH Website As of January 9, 2009 “although some try to make others doubt the effectiveness of masks, the scientific information concerning their effectiveness in preventing transmission of COVID-19 to others is well-founded and well-established!”
It doesn’t stop there. “many studies have shown that wearing masks in public settings significantly reduces the community spread of COVID-19, too.”
Yehezkelli replied to the MoH’s recommendation by saying, “I have to say, unfortunately, that this is incorrect information and I will not hesitate to call it disinformation.”
The majority of studies the MoH rely on are observational. “In medicine, we try to rely on controlled studies, which are of higher quality than observational studies,” He said.
Some studies have shown that mask-wearing can be beneficial, while others show the opposite. Both controlled studies however show no benefit.
“I think this is an example of the trending, misleading information provided both by the Israeli Ministry of Health and by health authorities around the world … which was provided both to the public and to the professional public, including to us doctors,” He said.
These studies should be reviewed by doctors. “When you read these studies in depth and you read their methods, you realize that there is no justification and no effectiveness, in fact,” He said.
Information provided by authorities regarding other measures taken against COVID-19 such as closing schools, closing quarantines, and vaccinations and their effectiveness is also available “very inaccurate information to say the least,” He said.
The MoH has not responded to our request for comment.
Yehezkelli stated that he expected the scientific and medical community to use evidence-based medicine instead of beliefs in deciding on these measures or to at least modify them. “over time and as more data have accumulated.”
Perhaps these exact measures were taken at first by the authorities “to go a little on the safe side,” He said. However, the data quickly became available and showed that these strict measures were not justified by professionals, ineffective, or caused more harm than good.
“The wrong policy in response to COVID-19 caused, in my understanding, a disaster on a global scale,” said Yehezkelli. Examples of this disaster include the loss of school years for children, anxiety and depression in the population as a result of the isolation and lockdowns—mainly among the youth who are still affected by it, an increase in eating disorder cases, unemployment, and economic damage.
“I think we are still absorbing the shockwaves of the policy, not of the virus,” He said.
‘Educate the Public’
“The Ministry of Health’s outreach strategy throughout the epidemic was a strategy of intimidation,” which damaged the public’s trust, said Yehezkelli. The best strategy for managing emergency situations is to “give transparent, reliable information, and recommendations for action.”
He stated that the pandemic’s outbreak began in Israel and the epidemic management team in Israel decided in their discussions that wearing masks was not beneficial.
It is noted in the team’s discussions that “the purpose of the masks is to educate the public,” He said. “I don’t think it is appropriate for some government body to educate the public in this way.”
Following a freedom-of-information application (FOI), submitted by Gadi Schiloh, an attorney who is a member the PECC, the protocols from the discussions on the epidemic management team were published, dated March 30, 2020, as well as April 1, 2020.
“Wearing masks has an educational message as part of maintaining hygiene and social distancing,” According to the protocols of the epidemic management group, it said that they have “a psychological effect.”
It added that “in the absence of professional or factual basis,” The team won’t be able to issue a recommendation for wearing masks. “There is no established scientific proof that masks lower morbidity.”
“There is doubt about the effectiveness of using a mask to prevent infection,” It was not overlooked. Yet one suggestion considered by the team was for the public to wear masks as a means to ease the lockdown policy. They also noted that this recommendation should be considered in conjunction with “an explanation why this recommendation was made and that the public will be aware that there is no proof that it prevents infection.”
“It is important to make sure that wearing masks will not cause harm, and the harm may be greater than the benefit,” The team agreed.
The MoH decided on April 7, 2020 to require citizens to wear a face mask in public. This emergency order was implemented five days later.
Medical Journals
In response to a letter published in July 2022, in which the authors recommended wearing masks for their effectiveness, the authors addressed the IMAJ.
Yehezkelli replied that he had received a notification within one day that the letter was accepted for publication.
The December edition published the letter six months later than it had been sent.
When they tried to find out why the letter hadn’t been published in subsequent editions, they were told it would take time. Later, they were informed that the letter needed language editing.
The end comes out as follows: “the letter was published as-is,” said Yehezkelli. Yehezkelli said that not a word was changed. “and I’m glad that’s the case.”
He stated that the important thing was for the letter to be published. However, this might also be an example. “of some reluctance” Articles to be published in the medical press “that advocate a different approach than the approach of the health authorities regarding the coronavirus.”
The Epoch Times received an email from the IMAJ confirming that they had sent it. “As usual, the letter went through a review process, and yes, the editorial work takes time.”
Yehezkelli, a consultant for a medical institute called KI Institute said “this is a very noticeable phenomenon.” It is not easy to publish studies in magazines all over the globe. “challenge the existing approach.”
“Most leading medical press in the world, unfortunately, sinned during the COVID-19 period and still sin,” Yehezkelli spoke out about studies that support institutional health authority stances and make it difficult for articles to show the contrary.
This is problematic as the medical profession depends on high-quality journal articles. The last three years have seen a significant shift in this direction. “the bias in publications is very significant in medicine,” He said.
“I’m afraid the doctors are going through a kind of brainwashing by the medical establishment,” Yehezkelli claimed that doctors are often given misleading or inaccurate information. So the doctors themselves don’t know what’s right and what’s not.
“The medical establishment has fallen into some kind of foolishness” Where there’s no reason to stop and look at things and learn lessons, “which is ultimately what’s important, that next time we will behave in a more rational way and based on facts and research,” He said.
“And perhaps most important of all,” The authors wrote: “the continued refusal to have an open professional discussion, and the disdain for different positions backed by research and data, are not consistent with norms in medicine and science, and this has long-term negative consequences for the medical profession—consequences that every doctor should be concerned about.”
Lia Onely reports from Israel for The Epoch Times.
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