An N95 mask has always been for the protection of the wearer, which was acknowledged since the beginning. In the earliest days, the message was essentially "don

An N95 mask has always been for the protection of the wearer, which was acknowledged since the beginning. In the earliest days, the message was essentially "don't buy all the masks because we need them for hospitals, and besides, you'll need an N95 anyway, so hoarding surgical masks won't save you". [Blue: Masks Don't Work, Hoarders!, Red: Yes they do, commies!] Then, it was "maybe if we all cover our mouths [with literally whatever] and don't cough all over everything in every store every day, there will be an overall reduction in spread of germs". [Blue: Masks Save Us From COVID! Red: They just said Masks Don't Work! Blue: Yes they do! Science changes! (The Science had not changed) Red: Well, it's not protecting you, the wearer. Blue: Masks protect us all! Red: No they don't! Blue: Science Denier!, etc, etc.] Another source of Works vs. Doesn't Work - anecdotes (and perhaps more) from subway passengers, allergy patients, etc. tend to indicate they feel better when wearing a surgical mask, which I don't find astonishing. I saw many comments asserting the effectiveness of surgical masks against inhalation (of a virus) based on these "idk I think my allergies were kinda better this year" observations. On the other hand, no foreman would allow their workers to tear down drywall or fiberglass or whatever (read: dust) with a simple cloth or surgical mask - OSHA mostly requires N95's (+/- the exhale vent). These construction-type N95s are great to protect the wearer, but are obviously less effective (but better than nothing) against protecting passers-by from the wearer. The scenario for which "Masks Work" is basically a hands-free covering-your-mouth-when-you-cough, but without that last half of the sentence, it's easy to see how many of the trades workers called bullshit - "I can't hang drywall or sand my boat without an N95, but I have to wear this shitty mask when I walk from my house to my mailbox?" "Masks Work! Learn the Science™!", etc, etc. The sad thing is that this is like a 15-minute conversation - tops - as part of hospital and jobsite orientation. Tons of new hires with only a HS Diploma/GED go through this talk every week with relatively little confusion. The Science/use cases haven't significantly evolved beyond the old PPE powerpoints, which I assume were deemed "too technical" by some PR person, leading to the kind of Science that fits on a bumper sticker. It reminds me of a high school algebra teacher cheering on this girl that was struggling with quadratic equations or something; she was up at the chalkboard and suddenly had an epiphany, saying something like "oh! I get it! now I just plug in X and divide!", to which he jokingly responded "We plug in toasters, not variables", and it was like her eyes glazed over and her brain imploded. "Toasters?! Where did the toasters come from!?" There was just no coming back from that brief moment of confusion, at least that day, for that problem.