Thread by @bhrenton

On October 13, Tucker Carlson said on his show, "According to a recent CDC report, "almost everyone — 85% — who got the coronavirus in July was wearing a mask, and they were infected anyway. So clearly (wearing a mask) doesn’t work the way they tell us it works."

This is false.

The report he was referring to was this September 11 MMWR report from the CDC which analyzes symptomatic individuals in two groups: one who tested positive and one who tested negative.

I also wrote about the report here:
offthesilkroad.substack.com/p/where-we-sta…

cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…

Showing the feedback loop between Fox News and President Trump, Trump said yesterday at a campaign rally in North Carolina: "Did you see, the CDC, that 85% of the people wearing the masks catch it, OK?"

Here's the thing: this is not what the report said.

The study wasn't even measuring mask effectiveness. It looked at activities that could make individuals more likely to test positive, including close contacts and eating and drinking at restaurants and bars. Those who went to restaurants were ~2x as likely to test positive.

The CDC asked individuals about their mask use before their test. Of those in the control group (symptomatic individuals who tested positive) 85% reported wearing a mask "always" or "often." This is where the 85% comes from. For the case group (negatives), that number was 88%.

As @camille_caldera points out, "an even higher percentage of the 'control patients' who did not contract the virus self-reported always wearing masks, at 74.2%, which suggests that their mask-wearing may have helped stave off the virus."
usatoday.com/story/news/fac…

One of the study's authors: “The data suggest that among a group of patients who are already showing symptoms…s, there was no statistical evidence of a difference in mask wearing behavior between those who tested positive and those who tested negative."
cnn.com/politics/live-…

Carlson completely misrepresented the point of the study, which sought out to determine what activities contribute to an increased risk of contracting coronavirus. Restaurants often mean that people do not use masks when they are eating or drinking.
politifact.com/factchecks/202…

Bottom line: We're calling @callin_bull on this claim. It's just completely misrepresented and false. But why is this all important?

Because the president now believes it.

Truth matters. Facts matter. And this is not a president of science and truth.

Fox should be ashamed.