The basic problem is whether the data says masks don't work, or says that people aren't consistent enough in wearing masks.
I've seen it directly--one woman putting on a mask when I approached. The thing is she had been hiking near the back of the pack in a group that got together for the hike. She was at a far higher risk from being downwind of her group (this was not a family bubble) than of me being off to the side.
I can basically guarantee nobody there was experiencing any appreciable symptoms (10,000' up, miles from the cars--not something you're doing with any sort of respiratory infection) but most Covid spread is presymptomatic.
A solo hiker masking when someone approaches makes sense (and is what I did pre-vaccine), but not masking with your group but masking for a stranger? That's merely an illusion of safety and why masks "don't work".
There's also the problem that the Cochrane data included mostly studies of things other than Covid--when you go over their own data only looking at Covid you do see some benefit. Note, also, the pooling of masks and respirators--we already know masks do little against the Omicron variants. Respirators or don't bother.
Cochrane messed up badly in this case by looking at the wrong thing. I'm reminded of the BMJ study showing zero safety benefit from parachutes when jumping from an airplane.
I would like to point out what “makes sense” to people rarely reflects the underlying fluid dynamics at the relevant scales. Couple that with a poor understanding of just how many particles one infected person emits and it’s clear masks as worn are very ineffective for the vast majority of people.
Yes, the masks didn't work. Now everybody should know it.
First of all, they were using paper mouth shields or adidas branded useless cloths, not masks.
But even the dumb fcks using real n95 mask, i see people everywhere touching the mask from outside (where the viruses should be stopped if the mask works) and then touching everything else. And when coughing opening the mask and coughing inside the palm...
I've seen it directly--one woman putting on a mask when I approached. The thing is she had been hiking near the back of the pack in a group that got together for the hike. She was at a far higher risk from being downwind of her group (this was not a family bubble) than of me being off to the side.
I can basically guarantee nobody there was experiencing any appreciable symptoms (10,000' up, miles from the cars--not something you're doing with any sort of respiratory infection) but most Covid spread is presymptomatic.
A solo hiker masking when someone approaches makes sense (and is what I did pre-vaccine), but not masking with your group but masking for a stranger? That's merely an illusion of safety and why masks "don't work".
There's also the problem that the Cochrane data included mostly studies of things other than Covid--when you go over their own data only looking at Covid you do see some benefit. Note, also, the pooling of masks and respirators--we already know masks do little against the Omicron variants. Respirators or don't bother.
Cochrane messed up badly in this case by looking at the wrong thing. I'm reminded of the BMJ study showing zero safety benefit from parachutes when jumping from an airplane.