Mask Mandates Don't Work. A Look At States And Provinces

A look at states and provinces with mask mandates. I'll designate an 'Up' to signify cases went up. 'Down' when then went down and 'Neutral' for....well, you know. Link to graphs on day of mandate cases. Masks either work or they don't. There's no reliable way to claim 'cases would go higher if not for them'. If you look at the cases prior to mandates and examine after, that becomes somewhat obvious. Below the Mandate Group are the Non-Mandate Group. 

Alabama: UP. Mandate effective July 16 with 640 cases on that day. Cases went up. There are a couple of days in August when it dipped below 640 but rates went up as high as 4 times the number. 

Arkansas: UP. Mandate July 16.and 830 cases. Masks did not result in lower cases fluctuating and reaching as high as 1100 cases.

California: UP. Mandate June 18 and 3803 cases. California has had masks for three months with no real measurable effect. It reached as many as 12 000 cases and has only begun to see cases drop below the mandate day in September. 

Colorado: Down. July 17 and 618 cases. It's down but not a significant reduction. It did go over that figure once in September.

Connecticut: Down. April 17 and 937 cases. CT has one of the longest mask mandates still running. Prior to mandates, rates were above and hit around 2000 afterwards but since late May on a downward trend. 

Delaware: Neutral. April 25 and 134 cases. Cases down to 71 in September but overall no real impact.

Hawaii: UP. April 17 and 12 cases. Mandates did not work as cases have been well above the original case. Hawaii's population is 1.4 million. 12 cases = .0009% of the population. It has some of the strictest measures in the country. Is it because of the lockdowns and masks? Again, data suggest probably not.

"Although there is no current data to demonstrate that homemade, cloth masks are effective for individual protection, it is reasonable to assume that wearing a fabric mask can help prevent the spread of infection to others. The CDC now recommends wearing a cloth face covering in public settings particularly where other physical distancing measures are difficult to maintain such as grocery stores, pharmacies, and takeout food establishments."

But keep the charade going anyway. Cross fingers!

Illinois: Down. May 1 and 3157 cases. Most recent cases at around 2400. Roughly 30% down from the mandate day. Interesting most studies in support of masks say it can help reduce the spread by 30% but it's  hard to know if the figure is down uniquely due to masks. Not likely. But let's assume only masks are a factor.

Indiana: Up. July 27 and 535 cases. Cases have doubled and never slowed down. 

Kansas: Up. July 2 and 62 cases. Cases shot up to as high as into the 1000 range.

Kentucky: UP. July 9 and 326 cases. Cases shot up with as many as 1152.

Louisiana. Down. July 11 and 2213 cases. Cases began to drop one month after. Date of mandates coincides with highs. Likely a coincidental drop.

Maine: Up. April 29 and 16 cases. Have gone up ever since. 50th in the country in total cases.

Maryland. Down. July 31 and 1169 cases. In June and July there was a drop prior to a mask mandate. Instituted at a peak and drops off. Likely coincidental.

Massachusetts. Neutral. July 31 and 309 cases. Instituted well after its highs. 

Michigan. UP. July 10 and 184 cases. Cases went up.

Minnesota. UP. July 25 and 803 cases. Cases have gone up. 

Mississippi. Down. August 4 and 1074 cases. Cases were low in spring. Mandates in place at peak. Coincidental.

Montana: Up. July 15 and 135 cases.  Cases increased. 

Nevada. Up. June 24 and 365 cases. Cases went up.

New Jersey. Up. July 8 and 243 cases. Mandates went into effect well after cases had come down. Nonetheless, rates still went up.

New Mexico. Up. May 16 and 185 cases. Cases went up.

New York. Down. April 17 and 7753 cases. Cases came down. But graph suggests it would have likely done so without mandates.

North Carolina. .Up. June 24 and 1667 cases.  Cases have gone up.

Ohio. Neutral. July 23 and 1446  cases. Cases increased and have come down slightly. 

Oregon. Up. July 1 and 275 cases.  Cases increased.

Pennsylvania. UP. July 1 and 636 cases.   Cases went up.

Rhode Island. Neutral. May 8 and 249 cases. Cases have remained neutral. 

Texas. Down. July 3 and 8482 cases. Cases began dropping in late August.

Vermont. Neutral. August 1 and 7 cases. Vermont wins the pointless virtue signalling award. And still it went up.

Quebec. Up. July 18 and 128 cases. Cases went up. It has now mandated masks in classes. 

Ontario recently instituted mandate. Cases have gone up in the province despite widespread mask rules prior to the mandate.

Both province mask children.

32 total: In 19 states and provinces cases went up. In eight states they declined and five states were neutral.

Conclusion. It varies from region but the data seems to indicate mask mandates have a mixed but mostly inclusive to ineffective impact.

Now let's take a look at the balance of 28 states and provinces without mandates.

Florida. Between June and August Florida experienced a spike with its highest total being 15 394 in July. As of October 7 there are 2251 cases. Florida is open. 

Georgia. The state experience a similar pattern to Florida between June and July with a high of 4813 in July. Currently there are 936 cases.

Arizona. Similar to both Florida and Georgia. Except it had a peak of 4877 at the end of June. Currently, 864 cases.

Tennessee. Hit a high of 3314 in June. Currently at 1676.

South Carolina. Hit a high of 2407 in July. Currently at 811.

Virginia. High of 2015 in August. As of today, 625 cases.

Missouri. Bucks the trend. Cases have gone up since the summer. To a high of 3009 as of today.

Wisconsin. Same pattern as Missouri. 2892 as of today.

Iowa. High of 2574 in August Currently 574.

Oklahoma. High of 1714 in July. Currently sits at 1364. 

Washington. Peak of 1336 in July. 484 as of October 6.

Utah. High of 1393 in October. 

Nebraska. Cases have been steady since the summer.

Idaho. High of 727 in July. Currently at 660.

South Dakota. Hit a high of 748 on Oct. 1 and dropped down to its average since August of 248 on Oct. 6. 

North Dakota. Cases are up. Similar to Utah. 

West Virginia. Cases have remained steady since the summer.

Alaska. Cases have remained steady with a slight uptick since the summer. 

Wyoming. Cases have increased since the summer.

New Hampshire. Steady since the summer. 

CANADA:

British Columbia. Increases since summer. 118 as of October 6.

Alberta. Increases since summer. 169 cases latest figure.

Saskatchewan. Down from summer.

Manitoba. Up. 40 cases.

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland all down and low. 

CONCLUSION: In 20 of 28 places, having no mask mandates resulted in LOWER cases.

It is clear by this data there is no correlation to be made between masks and cases. 

The virus is going to make its path regardless of masks. This seems to indicate that studies conducted concluding masks are ineffective are correct.