Return to mask mandates in California ‘flies in the face of evidence.’

Leading experts have said a return to mask mandates in California ignores gold standard scientific evidence.

The new rules – which will include masking toddlers as young as two years old – will be imposed for up to six months from next month amid fears of winter illnesses and a Covid-19 resurgence. The news has been criticsed by leading scientific experts who say there is no good evidence that mask mandates do anything to stop the spread of respiratory infections and significant evidence that masks harm child development.

The local health orders, which have been rolled out across five counties across the Californian Bay Area, will require masks to be worn in hospitals, nursing facilities, and other health settings.
The mandate, which starts on November 1st and continues until the end of March or April 2025, will be rolled out in the Californian states of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Napa.
In some areas the rules will only apply to healthcare workers but in Santa Clara and San Mateo visitors to health care settings will also be mandated to wear masks. Santa Clara will demand patients to mask up from the age of two onwards.

The news, reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, has angered specialists. Professor Robert Dingwall, a former UK government pandemic advisor said:

“The Bay Area is home to some of the world’s best biomedical science research groups. It is really disappointing to see that this is not reflected in its local public health community. If people choose to wear masks, that is their right. However, the use of state laws to mandate masks cannot be justified by the available evidence.”

Prof Dingwall, a sociologist at Nottingham Trent University added:

“The best studies have consistently failed to find any benefit in reducing transmission. It is particularly disturbing to see masks imposed on young children, whose risk of serious consequences from infection is minimal and whose role in transmission is negligible. The harms to their social, psychological and linguistic development are, however, increasingly well documented. This verges on state-sponsored child abuse and it is hard to see why any loving parent or carer would comply.”

Professor Tom Jefferson, a leading researcher on viral respiratory diseases who has carried out numerous reviews on the role of masks in stopping infections, including the highest quality Cochrane analysis,said:

“There is a lack of evidence of effectiveness for masks in all age groups.”
Vinay Prasad a US health researcher and professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco wrote in his Substack: “We should be very worried about the role and accountability of public health. First, to be clear, there is no high level evidence this policy slows the spread of respiratory viruses either in hospitals or in communities.
Second, there appears to be no justification for why this starts Nov 1. The summer covid bump has recently subsided, and there is nothing magical about November. Third, there appears to be no consideration for the harms of the policy, including dehumanization, loss of morale and trust in public health.”

A public health notice from California stated mask mandates should be enforced where patients are “deemed to be at highest risk of complications from respiratory viruses.”