"People are still not aware that wearing face masks do not protect them from viruses and are actually harmful," Gold disclosed citing the report as proof.

The observational study titled "The Foegen Effect: A Mechanism by Which Facemasks Contribute to the COVID-19 Case Fatality Rate," authored by German doctor Zacharias Fögen, was published in the journal Medicine in February.

The study examined "whether mandatory mask use influenced the case fatality rate in Kansas" from August 1 to October 15, 2020. Kansas was used for comparison because the state allowed each of its 105 counties to decide whether or not to implement mask mandates. Eighty-one counties decided against the measure.

A parallelization analysis based on county-level data showed that in Kansas, counties with mask mandates had significantly higher case fatality rates than counties without mask mandate. (Related: Study: Wearing a mask INCREASES risk of covid death.)

"Results from this study strongly suggest that mask mandates actually caused about 1.5 times the number of deaths or approximately 50 percent more deaths compared to no mask mandates," Foegen wrote.

The study indicated that wearing face masks might impose a great risk on individuals, which would not be mitigated by a reduction in the infection rate.