Commentary
As a researcher grappling with public health challenges for over four decades, I’ve become dismayed that, at least when it comes to COVID-19, intuition or ideological bias often appear to impede rigorously following the science.
The pile-on backlash against a recently published “gold standard” systematic review of the evidence for masking further highlights this ongoing situation of confusion and groupthink.
Indeed, my experience in publishing this article appears indicative of such pervasive bias. In the hope of reaching many readers who wouldn’t necessarily agree with my conclusions, I had previously submitted this to many other media outlets. The fact that what would have been the first scientific critique that’s not simply a defensive dismissal of the mask review, published in a mainstream venue, was roundly rejected (including by one large magazine that held it up for a month, despite my agreeing to include ever more “nuance”) seems to further confirm the media’s reluctance to even discuss, in a more even-handed way, such important research findings….