CORONA-REVISION · WORKING MATERIAL
Filter performance is not
the benefit of a mandate.
Summary of the reading versions held locally, dated 14 October 2026. This does not claim to reflect the current online content of corona-revision.de.
Volume 1 · 8.125b–c
The review distinguishes four levels: technical filter performance, individual protection when used correctly, the epidemiological effect of an everyday intervention, and the additional effect of a legal mandate compared with voluntary behaviour.
The 2023 Cochrane review found no clear reduction in the infection endpoints examined across the pooled randomised community studies. This finding does not establish that correctly worn masks are generally incapable of filtering particles or reducing risks. Conversely, a technical filter test does not demonstrate the additional benefit of a general mandate.
Adherence, exposure, fit, accompanying measures and study quality limit how widely the findings can be applied. Burdens, speech comprehension, emotion recognition and social communication are also endpoints that need to be examined.
Volume 2 · 54.3
The initial international shortage explains centralised emergency procurement. The critical questions concern a justifiable safety margin, the point at which oversupply became apparent, and the subsequent adjustment of quantities. The older figure of 5.7 billion masks cited there has been updated on the main page to 5.8 billion using the newer audit report.
Origin
Corona-Revision_Finale_Lesedokumente_2026-10-14_v2: Band_1_Lesefassung_final.docx and Band_2_Lesefassung_final.docx. Summary for Masken-Alarm; not a complete reproduction of the volumes.