Nonsensical Study Claims School Masking Can Stop Racism

A recently released study has spread misinformation that masking in schools worked to prevent the spread of COVID.

This study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is fatally flawed in multiple ways.

Not just because of missed details and cherry-picking, but because it claims that masking can mitigate structural racism.

The researchers attempted to use Massachusetts schools to create a natural experiment on mask mandates. Schools lifted mandates at different times, and as a result, COVID spread could be tracked between districts.

Except, naturally, they got several important details wrong.

And their misinformation has already been picked up by major media outlets as authoritative "truth."

Exactly what "experts" have relied on to justify their endless, ineffective mandates.

The most obvious issue is that they ignored the impact of different testing requirements. Schools treated masked students differently than unmasked ones, creating vast disparities.

If a student tested positive, masked close contacts were exempted from further testing. Unmasked contacts, however, had to get tested.

The more you look for COVID cases, the easier they are to find. Ignoring this disparity is an inexcusable, disqualifying oversight.

This kind of misinformation is what leads to young children being kicked out of schools.

Delusional Masking Defense

Additionally, there were just two of 72 districts tracked that kept their mask mandate in place. The massive sample size difference is another potential confounder.

The differences in COVID spread before the study period is also a huge issue. The schools that lifted mandates had higher incidence rates before their examination started. That implies structural differences that could have impacted results.

But it gets worse.

Because they claim masks worked, in defiance of reality, their assertion is that they can stop racism.

"As such, we believe that universal masking may be especially useful for mitigating effects of structural racism in schools, including potential deepening of educational inequities."

This is part of the same delusional mindset that led a New York college professor to call pro-science students "racist."

READ: NEW YORK PROFESSOR CLAIMS THOSE WHO DON’T WANT TO MASK IN HER CLASS ARE ‘RACIST’

They also say that "Black, Latinx, and Indigenous children and adolescents are more likely to have had severe Covid-19," justifying mandates.

There are many more disqualifying issues with their conclusions. But that didn't stop the New York Times from giving it positive coverage while ignoring others that show the opposite.

While it might not seem that important, school administrators who read the Times now believe misinformation. Accepting this nonsense as evidence will undoubtedly lead to further masking policies.

It's the danger of allowing "experts" to lie about masks, which they've done for two and a half years.

And based on the publicity their efforts receive, they're going to keep right on going.

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Ian Miller is a former award watching high school actor, author, and long suffering Dodgers fan. He spends most of his time golfing, traveling, reading about World War I history, and trying to get the remote back from his dog. Follow him on Twitter @ianmSC