This article has some interesting points, but overall it is click-bait. The recommendation at the end is, “We don’t know how well cloth masks work, so distanci

This article has some interesting points, but overall it is click-bait. The recommendation at the end is, “We don’t know how well cloth masks work, so distancing should come first, but masks are likely to work to some extent and not everyone can distance themselves.” But for most of the article it talks as if the whole matter is so uncertain no recommendation can be made. Anyway, the whole idea that we should wait until the science is all settled before we make policy decisions is quite impractical. We are learning as we are fighting the epidemic, and so we have to make decisions before we have full evidence. Indeed, the only way we can learn if masks work to help stop the epidemic is to have some countries mandate them and compare the results with countries that don't. Epidemics are very different than individual diseases. You have to make decisions at the group level, and when it is a new disease you have to do so without really good understanding. And we know that the countries that have pursued a whole set of rigorous policies that includes face masks have been successful, while countries that are lax, include face masks, have failed. So the smart thing to do is pursue the set of policies that includes face masks, and later on find analyse the data and find out exactly how important they are.