Mask wearing does help reduce community transmission

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A new study shows

We resolve conflicting results regarding mask wearing against COVID-19. Most previous work focused on mask mandates; we study the effect of mask wearing directly. We find that population mask wearing notably reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission (mean mask-wearing levels corresponding to a 19% decrease in R)





ps no anti vax nutters please, this thread is for adults only
 
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Funny, that, I always understood that even an inefficient mask is still better than no mask especially when used in conjunction with other measures such as avoiding crowds, opening windows, self-distancing, etc. Or is that all nonesense, too?
 
Dork Lard said:
There is no respected science that can claim wearing your cheap & ineffective masks prevents the spread of ANY virus.
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The straight forward cheap surgical mask is effective. It's why they are worn in hospitals in certain situations. In fact go to a hospital now and you will be told to wear one. My wife has had 2 recent visits. They have always been worn in situations to avoid say surgeons infecting patients while operating. That is the way the public is expected to wear them - keep their covid or what ever to themselves.

Protecting a person irrespective of others wearing a mask needs the high end stuff especially in certain circumstances when treating patients with covid. The ordinary masks will also offer some protection. That is why you may see them being worn in hospitals.

The main catch with them is when they get coated with aerosol from people with covid. Handling the mask after that can result in becoming infected. Even more reason for all to wear them when needed.

:rolleyes: Of course they do nothing at all. That is why flu infections were reduced dramatically in the period when the majority of people were wearing them. The reduction was really dramatic as well.
 
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ReganAndCarter said:
Wondering that myself. Mask wearing has declined massively, they're so last year. Still see fruitcakes wandering along on their own in the middle of nowhere sporting them though.
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This particular "fruitcake" still wears them - in crowded places (rarely, because I try to avoid them), in shops, etc. In fact this particular "fruitcake" was wearing his mask at the pharmacy this morning, being served by a pharmacist who was also wearing a mask, whilst last week at hospital all the staff and all the patients were also wearing masks. Maybe they are all "fruitcakes", too?

OK, so wearing them all the time is (and was always) a bit OTT and is not something I have done, but I'm all up for protecting myself from other members of society. Maybe having had cancer (with the consequent deleterious effects on my immune system) makes me a tad more cautious - but at least I haven't had a cold in more than 2 years. That's a bonus!

In any case people are still dying from COVID
 
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JobAndKnock said:
This particular "fruitcake" still wears them - in crowded places (rarely, because I try to avoid them), in shops, etc. In fact this particular "fruitcake" was wearing his mask at the pharmacy this morning, being served by a pharmacist who was also wearing a mask, whilst last week at hospital all the staff and all the patients were also wearing masks. Maybe they are all "fruitcakes", too?
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I think you may have missed a couple of points in my post -

Still see fruitcakes wandering along on their own in the middle of nowhere sporting them though.
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I didn't criticise mask wearing in crowded situations, or mixing with others.
 
No I didn't. I was making my own point, having had a rather unpleasant "chat" with a rathyer aggressive moron this morning who seemed to think that anyone wearing a mask is a nutter
 
A rellie is a doctor. She wears a blue mask and a visor because a good way for the virus to get in is via the eyes, she says.. Reason - she says she's seen too many people of all ages and levels of fitness die horrible deaths from covid not to.
I can understand that, I just CBA.

Of course masks help a bit. Every half arsed or better study which looked at it said so. WIth caveats, sure.
 
Justin Passing said:
A rellie is a doctor. She wears a blue mask and a visor because a good way for the virus to get in is via the eyes, she says..
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One reason I'm happy to be a "four eyes". I think that it has (unwittingly) given me a smidgeon of extra protection throughout the pandemic
 
Apart from those that had a genuine medical reason not to, I could never get my head around the anger from some re being instructed to wear masks. Some folk went full tonto about it and then some. Jeez, as a society we have to follow numerous rules each and every day we leave our house, actually, there are rules we are supposed to follow even when 'in' our house.

As for the transmission thing, to me it was always straightforward and still is. Wearing masks must have helped reduce transmission. Eradicate it? No. Reduce it? Yes.

How many of us have been walking along a corridor / aisle with someone walking towards us. Then, 'just' as they're passing, they cough/splutter and make zero attempt to cover their mouth. I know for sure I'd rather be walking past that person wearing a mask, and if they were also wearing one, bonus.
 
Dork Lard said:
ISTR the anger was purely from the mask wearers & directed towards the non mask wearers.

I don't recall anyone not wearing a mask & being angry about it.
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Then you didn't see the behaviour in some shops. Some staff having to wear masks were obviously a bit put out when patrons, walking past a sign at the door which clearly stated were mandatory, would refuse to wear them. When they were refused service, as I saw a few times, these maskless morons were the ones going full tonto. I know of several shops where if you attempted to enter without a mask you were politely but firmly told to leave

FFS, people were being asked to wear a small piece of cloth across their face in order that they would reduce the chances of passing on a potentially life threatening disease to others. It isn't a breach of anyone's human rights, it's common decency and respect for one's fellow man - something in the self-centred and ignorant society we have today which is sadly lacking. If these people had been forced to wear a full-face FFP3 industrial mask for 8 hours a day, like some tradesmen do, then maybe they'd have had something to whinge about
 
Dork Lard said:
If you want to minimise your exposure to virii then go live in a positive pressure clean room. A level 4 biosafe lab. Because your puny masks just do not offer ANY kind of protection against the threat that you THINK everyone else is exposing you to.
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Explain this, then: why do medical staff wear puny, flimsy paper masks? They are effective at reducing transmission of viruses in hospitals, aren't they?
 
andy11 said:
It's only by a miracle that we all managed to survive without masks for all the millennia prior to 2020. Thank God for Covid I say, for giving the world the mask. Only now are we safe.
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Taking b@ll@:mad: again, are we? Are you saying that COVID didn't put the NHS under tremendous strain? Are you saying that nobody died from it, especially in the initial period when COVID was spreading rapidly and there were no mitigations other than mask wearing and social distancing?
 
Dork Lard said:
No. People were being TOLD to wear a mask, despite no respected science claiming that the wearing of a mask would protect you from a virus.

The anger of the non mask wearers amongst us stems purely from the pressures put upon us by those who were frightened into believing that wearing a mask will be your saviour.
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People were being told to wear a mask to limit their ability to spread the virus to others. Not the same thing - and is what is backed by "the science". So if you weren't wearing a mask, and you had COVID, it was your lack of public awareness that spread the disease.
 
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