Dr Gary Sidley: Watch out, mask mafia, we’re still on your case

This month marks the fifth anniversary of one of the most blatant reverse ferrets in public health history. Within little more than a month our political leaders, senior doctors and government scientists flipped from a stance of imploring us all not to wear a face covering in community settings to a totalitarian one of imposing mask mandates. The abrupt transition from a stance of ‘masks do more harm than good’ to the imperative that ‘we all must wear one’ was undertaken in the absence of compelling evidence that face coverings reduced viral transmission…