Economists and perhaps others will benefit from seeing the results of this large-scale randomized controlled trial on wearing masks, in Bangledesh, which studied N=342,126 adults with three study arms: cluster randomized Villages and households with no intervention, with free cloth masks, and with free surgical masks. Participants also received information and local\u00a0 reminders.<\/p>\n
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Here is the Yale research paper by economist Jason Abaluck et al describing the experiment.<\/p>\n
The Impact of Community Masking on COVID-19: A Cluster Randomized Trial in Bangladesh.<\/a> https:\/\/elischolar.library.yale.edu\/cowles-discussion-paper-series\/2642\/<\/a><\/p>\n August, 2021<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here is a popular summary in the Atlantic from September 4, 2021<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2021\/09\/masks-were-working-all-along\/619989\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The study shows the superiority of surgical masks over cloth masks, and the both sets of masks achieved a roughly ten percent reduction in symptomatic seroprevalence. This is less than perfect, but the study interventions were only able to increase the wearing of masks from 13% to 42% and raise social distancing from 24% to 29%. Recall that the study was done in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Economists and perhaps others will benefit from seeing the results of this large-scale randomized controlled trial on wearing masks, in Bangledesh, which studied N=342,126 adults with three study arms: cluster randomized Villages and households with no intervention, with free cloth masks, and with free surgical masks. Participants also received information and local\u00a0 reminders. Here … Continue reading Randomized control trial using masks.<\/span>