We see it every time we leave the house: People wearing face masks but taking no other precautions to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Sweden’s top infectious disease specialist hasn’t recommended face masks for the general population of the country because he argued it was “very dangerous” for people to assume that masks alone would stop the spread of the virus, the New York Post reported.
“Anders Tegnell, chief epidemiologist at Sweden’s Public Health Agency, has repeatedly expressed skepticism that face masks will control virus outbreaks,” the outlet reported, sourcing the Financial Times.
Tegnell said that “It is very dangerous to believe face masks would change the game when it comes to COVID-19.”
It should be noted that Tegnell is Sweden’s equivalent to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has led the Trump administration’s COVID-19 task force.
More from the Post:
He noted that countries with widespread mask compliance, such as Belgium and Spain, were still seeing rising virus rates.
“Face masks can be a complement to other things when other things are safely in place,” he said. “But to start with having face masks and then think you can crowd your buses or your shopping malls — that’s definitely a mistake.”
He completely brushed off the prospect of wearing masks last month, saying, “With numbers diminishing very quickly in Sweden, we see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport.”
Tegnell has also said there is “astonishingly weak” evidence to suggest wearing a mask is effective, telling U.K.’s The Times, “I’m surprised that we don’t have more or better studies showing what effect masks actually have.”
As the Post reported, Tegnell “faced backlash after the nation controversially refused to lock down, leading to a higher death rate per capita than neighboring countries that took stricter approaches.”
“Sweden has recorded at least 85,000 cases, including more than 5,800 fatalities, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University,” the outlet continued.
As The Daily Wire reported Tuesday, misinformation has led to many Americans holding misconceptions about their risk of death from the coronavirus:
The study, conducted by Franklin Templeton Investments and Gallup Research, found that Democrats in particular and people who obtained their news primarily from social media were misinformed. Sonal Desai, chief investment officer of Franklin Templeton Fixed Income, described the three major ways in which Americans “misunderstand the risk of dying from COVID-19”:
- On average, Americans believe that people aged 55 and older account for just over half of total COVID-19 deaths; the actual figure is 92%.
- Americans believe that people aged 44 and younger account for about 30% of total deaths; the actual figure is 2.7%.
- Americans overestimate the risk of death from COVID-19 for people aged 24 and younger by a factor of 50; and they think the risk for people aged 65 and older is half of what it actually is (40% vs 80%).
“These results are nothing short of stunning. Mortality data have shown from the very beginning that the COVID-19 virus age-discriminates, with deaths overwhelmingly concentrated in people who are older and suffer comorbidities. This is perhaps the only uncontroversial piece of evidence we have about this virus. Nearly all US fatalities have been among people older than 55; and yet a large number of Americans are still convinced that the risk to those younger than 55 is almost the same as to those who are older,” Desai wrote.