3 ms·

If true and most people inside in China wear masks, what does it say about mask effectiveness?

• tosc 4y ago
  Why does anyone care?
• noduerme 4y ago
  Like a lot of things, "mask effectiveness" means one thing for an individual and another for a population. If everyone wears a neck gator while walking around walmart picking their nose, it's probably not gonna be real effective. If an individual wears a properly fit mask, they probably won't get covid. Covid causes brain damage that lowers your IQ by about 7 points [1]. That's probably why China was going to great lengths to prevent it from spreading domestically. I still haven't gotten it, probably because I wear a vented N95 in most crowded places; I've long since given up on wearing a mask to protect other people who won't bother to wear one, but a fitted ventilator does lower your risk of getting the virus if you care to avoid it. [1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(21)00324-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5...
  • jamesredd 4y ago
    That study doesn't measure IQ. "In this respect, the battery of tests should not be considered an IQ test in the classic sense, but instead, is intended to differentiate aspects of cognitive ability on a finer grain. The tests had been optimized for application with older adults and people with mild cognitive and motor impairments."
  • NoPie 4y ago
    That study is biased because it has no proper control group. Individually you may protect yourself with the mask (if you think it is worth it) but that's not how the policy makers should look at things on society's level. If most people will not/won't be able to use masks properly, then its effects will be very low.