Proof the CDC Knowingly Lied About Masks Being Effective Against COVID-19
As CDC Director Robert Redfield testified that masks would stop the spread of COVID-19 there was a published study on the CDC website proving that masks were ineffective.
On September 16, 2020, the Director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, held up a disposable medical mask (a.k.a., surgical mask) while testifying before the U.S. Congress about the COVID-19 response and stated that “these face masks are the most important and powerful public health tool we have. And I will continue to appeal for all Americans, all individuals in our country, to embrace these face coverings. I said it; if we did it for 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks, we would bring this pandemic under control. We have clear scientific evidence that they work, and they are our best defense.” Dr. Redfield’s statement that there was “clear scientific evidence” that masks work was a bald-faced lie. In actuality, the CDC (of which he was the director) published an authoritative study on its website that concluded just the opposite; the study concluded that face masks do not work to prevent the spread of disease. That study had already been posted on the CDC website for many months when Dr. Redfield falsely testified before Congress that there was “clear scientific evidence” that masks work to prevent the spread of disease.
In May 2020, the CDC published a report in its Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal involving a systematic review of 10 randomized controlled studies that “reported estimates of the effectiveness of face masks in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infections.” The researchers found “no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks.” The report reviewed studies involving disposable medical masks (the very same type of surgical mask held up by Dr. Redfield during his Congressional testimony) and found that “[t]here is limited evidence for their effectiveness in preventing influenza virus transmission either when worn by the infected person for source control or when worn by uninfected persons to reduce exposure.” The researchers concluded that their “systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza.”