Dame Jenny Harries, Britain's deputy CMO during the pandemic, has told the UK Covid Inquiry there is no proof masks were effective against Covid, and that they may have increased risk of infection.
November 29, 2023 - "There is no solid proof masks ever slowed the spread of Covid, England's former deputy chief medical officer said today. Professor Dame Jenny Harries, who now heads up the UK Health Security Agency, said the evidence that coverings reduced transmission is 'uncertain' because it is difficult to separate their effect from other Covid curbs....
"She also told the UK's Covid inquiry that government advice on how to make a mask using two pieces of cloth was 'ineffective'. Meanwhile, she warned advice for the public to wear masks during the pandemic may even have given people a 'false sense of security' that they could reduce their risk of becoming infected if they wore one while mixing with others....
"Dame Jenny wrote in her witness statement that the evidence base for using face masks in the community 'was, and still is to some degree, uncertain'. She noted that the evidence for mask wearing varied depending on what materials it was made from. For example, a 'one or two layer cloth covering' is 'not particularly effective', she said. And if someone doesn't wear it properly – fully covering the mouth and nose – 'it won't work', [she] added.
"The inquiry was shown guidance on how people can make their own face masks from the first wave of the pandemic. In response to the proposals in May 2020, Dame Jenny wrote that advice to use one or two pieces of fabric was 'ineffective'. She told the inquiry that the evidence at the time said at least three layers were needed 'to give a positive impact' but even this finding 'was not very strong', so the advice was not effective....
"Asked about a Government document recommending the use of face masks in May 2020, Dame Jenny said: 'We've got all sorts of safety issues here'.... '
One of the problems in May was when there were a lot of discussions about coming out of lockdown and opening up the economy and various other things – and the two metre, one metre (social distancing guidance).... The problem we had there was that there appeared to be a view permeating through, and a real concern and risk, that it was being conceived that if you did one metre and you wore a face covering slung round your cheek, or whatever it might be, that was fine. So, there was a risk that in encouraging face (masks) people would stop doing the thing that was really important, which was distancing and all the other things.
"Asked by inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett whether this led to a risk of a 'false sense of security', Dame Jenny replied: 'Yes, a false sense of security. But it was actually also overlapping with what was economically-driven policy, I think, to try and remove some of the distancing rules'....
"Dame Jenny also revealed that she wrote to cabinet secretary Simon Case in May 2020, when he was No10 permeant secretary, expressing concern that people may believe they 'could go back to normal' wearing face coverings made from t-shirts, when there was no evidence base around the measure.... 'My main concern was it would have been conceived as a safer way of moving about just when we got through the first tragic wave of a pandemic.... The anxiety was that if people just thought they could get a bit of t-shirt, put it around the face and that would solve all the problems and we could go back to normal, that was not going to be a good public health intervention.'
Jenny Harries advice on face masks in 2020 | Sceptic Nurse | February 5, 2023:
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