No proof face masks ever worked against Covid, claims UKHSA boss who warns they may have even had OPPOSITE effect on spread through ‘false sense of security’

There is no solid evidence masks have ever slowed the spread of Covid, England’s former deputy chief medical officer said today.

Professor Dame Jenny Harries, who now heads the UK’s Health Security Agency, said the evidence that covers reduce transmission is “uncertain” because it is difficult to separate their effect from other Covid restrictions.

She also told the UK Covid Inquiry that government advice on making a mask with two pieces of fabric was ‘ineffective’.

Research shows at least three are needed for even a small effect on the spread of viruses, Dame Jenny said.

Meanwhile, she warned that advice to the public to wear masks during the pandemic could even have given people a “false sense of security” that they could reduce their risk of becoming infected if they wore one while dealing with others interacted.

She also told the UK Covid Inquiry that the UK government’s advice on making a mask with two pieces of fabric was ‘ineffective’ as research showed at least three were needed for even a small effect on transmission.

Dame Jenny wrote in her witness statement that the evidence base for the use of face masks in the community ‘was and remains to some extent uncertain’.

She noted that the evidence for wearing a mask varied depending on the materials it was made of. For example, a “one- or two-layer cloth covering” is “not particularly effective,” she said.

And if someone doesn’t wear it properly – with the mouth and nose completely covered – “it won’t work,” Dame Jenny added.

The study received guidance on how people can make their own face masks from the first wave of the pandemic.

In response to the proposals, Dame Jenny wrote in May 2020 that the 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 have a positive impact,” but even this finding “was not very strong,” so the advice was ineffective.

Dame Jenny also warned that encouraging people to wear face masks led to a ‘false sense of security’ that people could get closer to each other without risk.

Asked about a government document recommending the use of face masks in May 2020, Dame Jenny said: ‘We have all kinds of safety issues here too.

‘One of the issues in May was that there were a lot of discussions about coming out of lockdown and opening up the economy and various other things – and the two metres, one meter (social distancing guidelines).

‘I think this landed at about the same time as the ‘one meter plus’ issue.

‘The problem we had there was that there seemed to be a view that was getting through, and there was a real concern and risk, that people thought that if you went three feet and you wore a face covering around your cheek, or whatever, be, that was fine.

“So there was a risk that in encouraging face masks, people would stop doing what was really important, which was social distancing and all those other things.”

When 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 also actually overlapped with what was an economically driven policy, I think, to try to lift some of the distancing rules.”

She said that at the time she and Professor Sir Jonathan Van Tam, England’s former deputy chief medical officer, were “really trying to highlight what we thought about the discussions about the two-metre and one-metre rules”.

Dame Jenny added: ‘What was devised was that if you wear a face covering and reduce everything to one metre, the face covering will make up the difference, and the answer was no, it won’t, and it certainly won’t. if ever it is not based on evidence.”

Dame Jenny also revealed that in May 2020, when he was Number 10 Permeant Secretary, she wrote a letter to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, expressing concern that people might think they could ‘get back to normal’ with the wearing face coverings made of T-shirts, while there is no evidence base surrounding the measure.

Dame Jenny wrote in her witness statement that the evidence base for the use of face masks in the community ‘was and remains to some extent uncertain’

She told the inquiry: ‘The first question was: shouldn’t you be encouraging this? There is no harm’.

‘The issue for me at that time, and I think Professor Van Tam shared this, was that we absolutely should not support something that was not based on facts if it would promote risk compensation.

‘Of course, face coverings, as you know, are a completely polarized debate and it is quite difficult to maintain a central position. If I had said, ‘don’t do any of this,’ someone would have. challenged back and said, “Well, it certainly can’t hurt”.

“My biggest concern was that it would have been designed as a safer way to get around just as we were coming through the first tragic wave of a pandemic.”

Asked if she was addressing the concerns, she added: “Yes, well, at the one meter, two meters (social distancing suggestion).

‘I think this is around the same time that the CMO (Chief Medical Officer), CSA (Chief Science Advisor) and the two deputy CMOs wrote to Simon Case, because it was about breaking down all the different industries and companies and sectors on the same time.

“The fear was that if people thought they could get a T-shirt, put it on their face and that would solve all the problems and we could get back to normal, that wouldn’t be a good public health intervention. .’