since last march i've been saying that masks are bullshit and here is evidence that i was correct;

On March 17, American Thinker posted an article entitled "Mask Mandates Do Not Save Lives." By comparing COVID death rates in states with no mask mandate to states in which masking was mandatory, the article was able to show that, on average, states in which masking was voluntary had lower death rates than states requiring it.  The difference was marginal, so the conservative conclusion was that required masking had not saved lives.

Since that study did nothing to control for potentially confounding considerations like population density or age structure, more sophisticated studies of the question are in order.  What it highlighted, however, is the ongoing failure of our governments to provide measurable evidence that masks save lives.

At the time that article was written, there were only ten states that had no mask mandates, but since then, seven additional states have lifted them.  Those states have been heavily criticized for having done so.  President Biden has referred to their decision as "Neanderthal thinking," and a great many high-profile people of a progressive bent have expressed dismay at such irresponsible behavior.  However, no evidence has been brought forward to document the measured effectiveness of obligatory masking.

Masking might logically be expected to influence the death rate only indirectly.  If masks diminish the appearance of new cases, then — other things being equal — fewer cases should mean fewer deaths.

On March 31, NPR posted an article entitled "How Severe is Your State's Coronavirus Outbreak?"  It contains an interactive map that for each state allows the viewer to see the rate at which new COVID cases have appeared in the preceding week.  The rate is expressed as the average daily number of new cases per 100,000 population.........read more......