A few german cities could reduce the number of new infections to 0 early in the pandemic after making masks (including community masks) mandatory. The universit

A few german cities could reduce the number of new infections to 0 early in the pandemic after making masks (including community masks) mandatory. The university town Jena in particular was frequently cited for its pro-mask campaign. I thought they had written a paper about their results, with statistically corrected comparisons to cities of similar size; but can’t find it. Those studies indicating that masks might not work were known in the public and political discourse at that time (e.g. they were discussed in the coronavirus update podcast). The city governments went for the policy anyway. Japan and South Korea are also still doing much better than nations where masks are not commonly seen...