How the Cochrane Review went wrong. Report questioning COVID masks blows up, prompts apology

The Cochrane Review has apologized for an evidence review that led many to conclude, inaccurately, that masks don’t work. “I think it’s really damaging.”The Cochrane Review looks at available evidence on a particular topic and distils it into a digestible report for both scientists and regular people. For the mask review, the authors looked at 78 randomized controlled trials conducted around the world, including Mexico, Denmark and Norway. As Cochrane’s editor clarified Friday, the review of whether interventions to promote mask wearing helped slow viruses was inconclusive. The larger question of whether mask wearing itself is helpful was considered out of bounds, given the limitations of the evidence.