Missouri buries its own health study after it shows mask mandates saved lives

essentialsaltes

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Mask mandates saved lives and prevented COVID-19 infections in Missouri’s biggest cities during the worst part of the delta variant wave, an analysis by the state Department of Health and Senior Services shows.

But the analysis, conducted at the request of Gov. Mike Parson’s office in early November, was never made public and was only obtained by The Missouri Independent and the Documenting COVID-19 project after a Sunshine Law request to the department.

The study compared infection and death rates in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and Jackson County with the rest of the state. New state health Director Donald Kauerauf wrote in an email that the study’s findings showed the effectiveness of mask mandates and forwarded it to Parson’s office.

Parson has spoken out repeatedly against local mask mandates, calling them "WRONG" in a tweet and a contributor to the erosion of public trust. Attorney General Eric Schmitt has gone a step further, suing St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and Jackson County to block enforcement of their mask mandates.

Along with lower case rates, the health department analysis showed masked jurisdictions had fewer deaths per capita as well, an average of 0.2 deaths per 100,000 residents each day from May 1 to Oct. 30, compared to 0.28 deaths per day per 100,000 residents.
 

Brihaha

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I wonder why they bother to hide the information about masks saving lives at all. It's obvious that scoring political points has far surpassed the importance of public health in many places in America. Maybe they are hiding the information to prevent legal issues stemming from negligence. After all, why bother to research if the concern is not saving lives?
 
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Mask mandates saved lives and prevented COVID-19 infections in Missouri’s biggest cities during the worst part of the delta variant wave, an analysis by the state Department of Health and Senior Services shows.

But the analysis, conducted at the request of Gov. Mike Parson’s office in early November, was never made public and was only obtained by The Missouri Independent and the Documenting COVID-19 project after a Sunshine Law request to the department.

The study compared infection and death rates in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and Jackson County with the rest of the state. New state health Director Donald Kauerauf wrote in an email that the study’s findings showed the effectiveness of mask mandates and forwarded it to Parson’s office.

Parson has spoken out repeatedly against local mask mandates, calling them "WRONG" in a tweet and a contributor to the erosion of public trust. Attorney General Eric Schmitt has gone a step further, suing St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and Jackson County to block enforcement of their mask mandates.

Along with lower case rates, the health department analysis showed masked jurisdictions had fewer deaths per capita as well, an average of 0.2 deaths per 100,000 residents each day from May 1 to Oct. 30, compared to 0.28 deaths per day per 100,000 residents.
Here is the thing with mask mandates ( especially as time goes on) you have to have people willing to ENFORCE them. I for example ONLY wear masks when required and even then I do my business and leave. Here in GA VERY few places (other than doctor's offices have mandates anymore from what I have seen.
 
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Martinius

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Why are mandates even necessary? Aren't most people smart enough to know what to do for their own safety and welfare, and that of others? I don't understand how people can choose to make bad choices just because they can. It is almost a societal death wish.
 
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durangodawood

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Why are mandates even necessary? Aren't most people smart enough to know what to do for their own safety and welfare, and that of others? I don't understand how people can choose to make bad choices just because they can. It is almost a societal death wish.
Lots of people have put political identity at the head of the table. And now every other consideration is subservient, including reason and even faith.

Welcome to America 2021.
 
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TLK Valentine

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Why are mandates even necessary? Aren't most people smart enough to know what to do for their own safety and welfare, and that of others? I don't understand how people can choose to make bad choices just because they can. It is almost a societal death wish.

People are short-sighted, self-entitled, gullible, stupid savages. Next question?
 
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Belk

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Why are mandates even necessary? Aren't most people smart enough to know what to do for their own safety and welfare, and that of others? I don't understand how people can choose to make bad choices just because they can. It is almost a societal death wish.


MQM29HL.jpg
 
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probinson

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15.8/100,000 infection rate in masked communities.
21.7/100,000 infection in unmasked communities.

~6 fewer people out of every 100,000 people were prevented from getting COVID in masked communities.

0.2 deaths per 100,000 in masked communities.
0.28 deaths per 100,000 in unmasked communities.

~0.08 fewer people (?) out of every 100,000 died in masked communities.

Sheesh, the bar is awfully low for claiming "masks work".
 
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essentialsaltes

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Sheesh, the bar is awfully low for claiming "masks work".

The two rates are significantly different. In particular 0.28 is 40% higher than 0.2. These differences are also per day. The study was over 6 months. For the entire population of Missouri that would work out to a difference (comparing 0% mandates to 100% mandates) of about 9,000 [edit 900] deaths.

Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving — forever? If I offered you twenty thousand for every dot that stops, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?”
 
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KCfromNC

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15.8/100,000 infection rate in masked communities.
21.7/100,000 infection in unmasked communities.

~6 fewer people out of every 100,000 people were prevented from getting COVID in masked communities.

0.2 deaths per 100,000 in masked communities.
0.28 deaths per 100,000 in unmasked communities.

~0.08 fewer people (?) out of every 100,000 died in masked communities.

Sheesh, the bar is awfully low for claiming "masks work".

I guess moving from masks do nothing to nitpicking at how effective masks are is progress, in a sense.
 
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probinson

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The two rates are significantly different. In particular 0.28 is 40% higher than 0.2. These differences are also per day. The study was over 6 months. For the entire population of Missouri that would work out to a difference (comparing 0% mandates to 100% mandates) of about 9,000 deaths.

Um, not even close.

The entire population of Missouri is ~6,100,000.
The study looked at the time period from May 1, 2021 through October 30, 2021. That's 182 days.
The article says, "Stated another way, unmasked communities recorded one death per 100,000 every 3.5 days compared to one death per 100,000 residents every five days where mask mandates prevailed."

One death per 100,000 in Missouri would equate to 61 total deaths (6,100,000/100,000).

When we divide the 182 total days studied/3.5 days for unmasked communities, we get 52.
When we divide the 182 total days studied/5 days for masked communities, we get ~36.

When we multiply 52*61 (one death per 100,000 residents every 5 days for 182 days in unmasked communities), we get 3,172.
When we multiply 36*61 (one death per 100,000 residents every 3.5 days for 182 days in masked communities), we get 2,220.

When we subtract 2,220 from 3,172, we get a difference of 952 total fewer deaths over 182 days, or roughly 5 deaths/day fewer in masked vs. unmasked communities.

Your estimate of a difference of 9,000 is off by almost a factor of 10.
 
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probinson

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I like how we have to pretend that the ONLY difference between the masked and unmasked communities is whether or not there was a mask mandate. I mean, surely different demographics, different levels of viral spread, different levels of vaccination, different behavioral patterns in the population groups... none of that matters.

What's really interesting about this kind of study is you can easily produce other studies that show the exact opposite. Here's a good example of one from Kansas last year that showed that masked communities actually did worse than unmasked communities;
KansasMaksSameAxis.jpg


Of course, this doesn't prove masks don't work, according to the mask hysterics, for some reason. Instead, they'll spin it to say that cases decreased in the mask communities at a higher rate than they did in the no mask communities (true), while COMPLETELY IGNORING that the no mask communities did better throughout the entire study period. The CDC did exactly that;

Trends in County-Level COVID-19 Incidence in Counties With ...

What does the CDC put in their infographic about this data? That masked communities saw a 6% decrease in cases/100,000 people while the no masked communities saw a 100% increase. It's barely acknowledged that the no mask communities performed better through the entire study.

Numbers don't lie. Liars use numbers.
 
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essentialsaltes

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Um, not even close.

Your estimate of a difference of 9,000 is off by almost a factor of 10.

You are correct, it's more like 900. I slipped a decimal.

(~60 hundred thousand) (0.08 greater chance per day per hundred thousand) (~180 days) = ~900



I wonder what would happen if it turned out that wearing a mask reduced teenage abortions by 40%.
 
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essentialsaltes

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I like how we have to pretend that the ONLY difference between the masked and unmasked communities is whether or not there was a mask mandate. I mean, surely different demographics, different levels of viral spread, different levels of vaccination, different behavioral patterns in the population groups... none of that matters.

No we don't.

There are a number of variables that impact infection and death rates, the health director wrote in a Nov. 3 email. But the effectiveness of masks is clear, he wrote.

What's really interesting about this kind of study is you can easily produce other studies that show the exact opposite. Here's a good example of one from Kansas last year that showed that masked communities actually did worse than unmasked communities

What's really interesting about this study is it was released to the public, unlike the one in Missouri.

Numbers don't lie. Liars use numbers.

They don't have to lie to your face if the numbers can just be buried so you can't see them.
 
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probinson

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No we don't.

There are a number of variables that impact infection and death rates, the health director wrote in a Nov. 3 email. But the effectiveness of masks is clear, he wrote.

Oh well, if he wrote it then it must be true. No need to see any supporting data, I guess.

What's really interesting about this study is it was released to the public, unlike the one in Missouri.

Scandalous!

They don't have to lie to your face if the numbers can just be buried so you can't see them.

Not sure which is better; "hiding" numbers or lying about them. Outrage seems to be somewhat selective, however.
 
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rturner76

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What the manager of my local store said was it is up to the business owner to enforce any mandates. He was telling me how people called the health department on him when he let people slide.

I'm all for precautions but as a business owner, it would be hard to send that sale back out the door.

Where I live it's mandatory in medical facilities, public transportation, and sporting events. I have seen some businesses require it on their own and my parish "strongly encourages" everyone to mask up and almost everybody does.

Some people can't wear them for health reasons.
 
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Here is the thing with mask mandates ( especially as time goes on) you have to have people willing to ENFORCE them. I for example ONLY wear masks when required and even then I do my business and leave. Here in GA VERY few places (other than doctor's offices have mandates anymore from what I have seen.
Here is the IMPORTANT thing:
Mask mandates work.

And the public DESERVES to know that.
 
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dogs4thewin

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Here is the IMPORTANT thing:
Mask mandates work.

And the public DESERVES to know that.
but they only work if enforced. I can have a mandate, but having it and in enforcing it consistantly can be two different things. (especially when you rely on other people to enforce them like private businesses. My uncle owns a feed and hardware store in this county suppose this county had a mask mandate ( not happening as even the sheriff said he would not enforce them, but say they did well D does not agree with mandates, so he refuses to enforce them in his store. What the government going to do station law enforcement (some of whom may or may not enforce the mandates outside each and every private business?
 
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What's really interesting about this kind of study is you can easily produce other studies that show the exact opposite. Here's a good example of one from Kansas last year that showed that masked communities actually did worse than unmasked communities;
Posts attempting to change the subject away from the study posted in the OP to a totally different one just make me think that there's not anything substantial to question in the former.
 
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