face masks and hand wash, limited the spread of respiratory diseases. “Wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness/COVID-like illness (nine studies; 276,917 people); and probably makes little or no difference in how many people have flu/COVID confirmed by a laboratory test (six studies; 13,919 people)," the review stated as quoted by Fox News.
The review compared medical/surgical to N95 respirators and found that wearing N95 respirators probably makes little to no difference in how many people have confirmed flu (five studies; 8407 people); and may make little to no difference in how many people catch a flu-like illness (five studies; 8407 people), or respiratory illness (three studies; 7799 people).
The study authors stated that data was collected during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009, non-epidemic flu seasons, epidemic flu seasons up to 2016, and the Covid-19 pandemic, Fox News reported.
Initially, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claimed that face masks are not necessary, however, it then asked people to mask up in 2020.