"Kansas counties that have mask mandates in place have seen a rapid drop
in cases, while counties that only recommend their use have seen no
decrease in cases, the states top health official said Wednesday.
Dr. Lee Norman, the state health departments top administrator, said
that overall statewide the numbers of new cases is favorable, but that
the reduction of new cases is entirely in the counties that require
masks be worn in public spaces.
After Governor Laura Kelly put a mask mandate in place last month, 15
counties stayed with the mandate while 90 counties abandoned it, Norman
said at a news conference Wednesday.
Norman pointed a graph showing the seven-day rolling average of cases
per 100,000 people comparing counties with the mask mandates with those
counties that abandoned it.
The favorable trend line down was entirely in the counties that required
the use of masks, while the trend line for those without one was flat,
he said.
Do masks work? Here in this natural experiment called Kansas where we
have essentially not due to any great design, but it has worked out
that way some counties have been the control group with a no mask
mandate and some have been the experimental group with masks, Norman
said. The experimental group is winning the battle. All improvements in
case development comes from those counties wearing masks.
It is important to understand, he noted, that the 15 counties with mask
mandates represent two-thirds of the states population and include the
more urban cities with greater population densities.
People in those counties rely more on mass transit there and tend to
have more racial and ethnic minority populations that are more likely to
be infected by COVID-19.
The declining coronavirus cases per capita in those more urban counties
suggest the improvement in the trend lines could be even steeper in
rural counties if they had mask mandates in place, he said."
https://www.wibwnewsnow.com/kdhe-kan...ws-masks-work/