Scores of news outlets scrambled to cover the report the following weeks, with some even citing the need for a national mask mandate. But at the heart of that report was a grossly erroneous detail that would change those numbers altogether and, in turn, weaken the case for said mask mandate.
More than 80 percent of Americans have been wearing masks since late spring, said Phillip Magness, a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. In contrast, researchers from the University of Washington‘s Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation (IHME) built their projection around the assumption that only 49 percent of Americans were wearing masks from April through June.
The researchers had even labeled their data as current as of late September. Therefore, it only makes sense that they arrived at a seemingly incredible projection. However, if their model had started with the 80 percent mask adoption rate, any additional gains would have been small and nowhere near their initial numbers...<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...