3 ms·

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7497125/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7497125/ There’s plenty of articles to be found that say wha

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7497125/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7497125/ There’s plenty of articles to be found that say whatever you want. Broadly, you’ll find articles that state that models or theories suggest that wearing masks will probably work great and articles that say that in practice it turns out cloth masks are at most of very limited value, because you can’t say what they filter and they never fit well. > The available evidence suggests that near-universal adoption of nonmedical masks when out in public, […] could successfully reduce R to below 1 The very clear fact that no country actually succeeded in doing this, even the countries like Japan where mask wearing is as normal as it gets, should be a hint.

DangitBobby 5y ago
All countries did not perform equally, and we all took very different measures of varying degress. Japan didn't really do any official lockdown, for example, while other countries did. The fact that you can't point to a country that already wears masks as a custom (Japan) and see the obvious benefits means exactly nothing because of that. Now hey, if we had two Japans that behaved identically in every way besides mask usage then that would really be something. Instead, we have a bunch of data being collected on what amount to uncontrolled experiments and we won't really know for a while, if ever. What I do know is most of the time it's very, very easy to wear a mask. So maybe, if you have good reason to believe it helps, just do the easy thing even if you can't know for sure.
- tinus_hn 5y ago
  So, that’s what I said. It’s very apparent that the masks should work and it’s very easy. But there’s little actual data and the data there is shows it doesn’t work. Plus the old story about how Schrödinger’s Japan that is the big example of masks working, also isn’t the example when it turns out they don’t work. Of course.
  - DangitBobby 5y ago
    That's the opposite of what you said. The data there doesn't show it doesn't work, because they didn't take other measures that other countries did take, and the variables are all intermixing their effects.
    - tinus_hn 5y ago
      So the no true masked Scotsman, if the masks don’t work it’s because of the other measures.

DangitBobby 5y ago

All countries did not perform equally, and we all took very different measures of varying degress. Japan didn't really do any official lockdown, for example, while other countries did. The fact that you can't point to a country that already wears masks as a custom (Japan) and see the obvious benefits means exactly nothing because of that. Now hey, if we had two Japans that behaved identically in every way besides mask usage then that would really be something. Instead, we have a bunch of data being collected on what amount to uncontrolled experiments and we won't really know for a while, if ever. What I do know is most of the time it's very, very easy to wear a mask. So maybe, if you have good reason to believe it helps, just do the easy thing even if you can't know for sure.

tinus_hn 5y ago
So, that’s what I said. It’s very apparent that the masks should work and it’s very easy. But there’s little actual data and the data there is shows it doesn’t work. Plus the old story about how Schrödinger’s Japan that is the big example of masks working, also isn’t the example when it turns out they don’t work. Of course.
- DangitBobby 5y ago
  That's the opposite of what you said. The data there doesn't show it doesn't work, because they didn't take other measures that other countries did take, and the variables are all intermixing their effects.
  - tinus_hn 5y ago
    So the no true masked Scotsman, if the masks don’t work it’s because of the other measures.