I apologize for the stream of COVID-related pieces recently, but folks keep sending me great stuff like this. “Analysis of the Effects of COVID-19 Mask Mandates on Hospital Resource Consumption and Mortality at the County Level.”
I already loosed the spoiler alert in the headline, so here’s the conclusion.
There was no reduction in per-population daily mortality, hospital bed, ICU bed, or ventilator occupancy of COVID-19-positive patients attributable to the implementation of a mask-wearing mandate.
Using data from Bexar County, Texas, before and after masking mandates, the researchers saw no difference in public health outcomes.
Results: We were unable to detect a reduction in per-population daily mortality, hospital bed, ICU bed, or ventilator occupancy attributable to the implementation of a mask order.
You can review their research and methods here.
The authors admit that their circumstances reflect the environment in which the data was collected, and we might see different results in a more or less densely populated area.
Related: Biden Vaxx Mandate is Not about Public Health, It’s Just Another Way to Divide Us
The Population of Bexar County, Texas, is just over 2 million, and it covers an area of 1,256 square miles. 1,382 people per square mile. Most (if not all) of the county is taken up by San Antonio and its sprawl.
New Hampshire’s population (the entire state) is about 1.35 million living in an area of 9,349 square miles (I’ve read three different figures, by the way). 147 people per square mile.
Significantly less dense than Bexar County.
Bexar County is over 58% Democrat.