However,the survey sampled just 104 Victorians and critics argue the photos analysed,taken at locations including Flinders Street and Costco,did not represent Melbourne as a whole.
“That’s not a random selection of the population. It’s quite risky to try to extrapolate from those. That’s not a research method that would be generally accepted,” said Dr Kyle Sheldrick,a medical researcher and PhD candidate at the University of NSW.
“I don’t think the evidence they put forward demonstrates their conclusion,” said William Bevens,a PhD candidate in epidemiology at the University of Melbourne.
News.com.au reported the study was used by the Victorian government as justification for its masks policy,although it was published a year later.
However,the study was not the only research that suggested mask wearing worked in Melbourne. Another independent study,led by Monash University,came to the same conclusion using different data sets. International data also favours masking.
“I thought the criticism was very poor,and I felt the Burnet’s study was good – I couldn’t see any flaws,” said Associate Professor James Trauer,co-author of the study and head of epidemiological modelling at Monash.