{"id":102009,"date":"2024-05-21T21:45:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T02:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102009"},"modified":"2024-05-21T21:45:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T02:45:44","slug":"102009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102009","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

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New Research Reveals That Wearing Face Masks Did Not Reduce Risk of COVID Infection After First Omicron Wave.<\/a><\/p>\n

A new study indicates that face masks did not significantly lower Covid-19 infection risk after the initial Omicron wave, highlighting the need for adaptable strategies and further research as risk factors evolve.<\/strong><\/p>\n

New findings from the\u00a0University of East Anglia<\/a>\u00a0suggest that wearing face masks did not reduce the risk of Covid infection after the initial rise of the Omicron variant. An analysis of official data indicated that the risk factors for infection changed notably when the dominant Covid variant in the UK shifted from Delta to Omicron in December 2021.<\/p>\n

These included wearing a mask, a history of foreign travel, household size, whether people were working or retired, and contact with children or over-70s.<\/p>\n

Lead author Professor Paul Hunter, of Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia (UEA), said: \u201cEarly in the pandemic there were many studies published looking at risk factors for catching Covid, but far fewer studies after the first year or so. Our research shows that there were changes in some risk factors around the time that the Omicron BA.2 variant became dominant.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Co-author Dr. Julii Brainard, of UEA\u2019s Norwich Medical School, said: \u201cThis isn\u2019t totally surprising because laboratory evidence suggests that the Omicron variant was better able to infect the cells lining the upper respiratory tract than previous variants and so be more transmissible. Management of infection risk needs to be agile, adapting to epidemic development and better-quality information when it emerges. To prevent infections we need to have a good view of which factors might be most or least relevant. If those factors can change, we need to be alert to that happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Methodology and Key Findings from the Data<\/h4>\n

The researchers analyzed data available from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Covid survey in England, which compared infection rates with an ongoing household survey of the population to estimate how many people had infections. From November 2021 to May 2022, the ONS also asked people questions about their circumstances and habits to see if those factors could be linked to the risk of positivity.<\/p>\n

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Professor Hunter added: \u201cWe used this dataset to look for constancy or change in the importance and direction of potential risk factors for testing positive. We applied a statistical method called meta-regression to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study found that changes to risk factors included:<\/p>\n