“It has never been shown that wearing surgical face masks decreases postoperative wound infections,” writes Göran Tunevall M.D. in a randomized controlled study published in the World Journal of Surgery in 1991. “On the contrary, a 50% decrease [in infection] has been reported after omitting face masks. “

So Tunevall decided to put face masks to the test. His surgical team performed 3,338 operations alternating between using face masks and not.

The 1,537 operations with masks ended up with 73 infections. That’s a 4.7% infection rate. Nearly 5 out of every 100 patients.

The 1,551 operations without masks only had 55 infections. That’s a 3.5% infection rate. Less than 4 out of every 100 patients.

So we’re looking at a 34% increase in infections when the surgeons wore masks.

Tunevall concluded that masks “have not been proven to protect the patient operated by a healthy operating team.”

So if masks cannot even protect an open wound with a surgical team breathing directly into it, what good are they in a public setting where we all have our skin sealed up tight?

Please share this information with friends and family. It’s not a lone example as you can see here and here. If people want to wear a mask, that’s their business. If they want to wear reindeer antlers, that’ll probably offer just as much protection. Just don’t force your preferences on the rest of us. If anything, masks are spreading infection, not stopping it.

As Tweedledee says in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: …’if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”