4 ms·

Cloth masks are estimated to be in the 50-60% effectiveness range. To me, that's quite effective, not ineffective. Especially when applied across an entire popu

• krona 5y ago
  I think you're off by an order of magnitude (5-6%) if you're referring to the risk of infection vs not wearing a basic, correctly worn surgical mask. And this is pre-omicron; omicron is far more transmissible. Happy to be corrected.
  • bduerst 5y ago
    You're both right - by the time Omnicron rolled around it was evident that cloth masks were not as effective at preventing transmission. That said, cloth masks were always recommended for gen pop given the low availability of N95 surgical masks. They're still better than nothing, and we're still learning more about this disease so it's subject to change even further as more observations are made.
• infamouscow 5y ago
  Estimated effectiveness is not empirical evidence. There's nothing scientific about just guessing random numbers.
• m0llusk 5y ago
  That 50% plus number is highly contested. The study cited for that does not necessarily support that conclusion.
• gfodor 5y ago
  No. Cloth masks are understudied and probably don’t do much. What does do a lot, probably, is a dynamic where millions of people wearing ineffective masks thinking they are effective, and making bad choices entirely due to that bad assumption, like not wearing an N95, closing distance with people, or going indoors when it could have been avoided. https://vinayprasadmdmph.substack.com/p/mask-studies-reach-a-new-scientific?s=r https://vinayprasadmdmph.substack.com/p/mask-studies-reach-a...