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[–]Archie 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Literally nobody is saying that masks are perfect, your opposition doesn't make any sense. They don't have to be perfect. What matters is they very significantly lower the spread of the virus.

Your last paragraph is simply a big fat lie. The CDC has evidence that masks lower the spread of the virus, for a starter: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0714-americans-to-wear-masks.html

[–]OrneryStruggle 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

They do not very significantly lower the spread of sars-cov-2 or any other virus.

The CDC does not have any evidence, which is why the page you linked me contains exactly zero sources actually providing evidence for masks lowering viral spread. Nice try though. Maybe read things before you send them to other people as 'sources' first, next time.

Anyway there is no reason to try to lower the spread of a virus that is not even at epidemic levels anywhere in the anglosphere anymore and which is approximately as dangerous as the common flu. It's over already. Masking people in July after there is no longer an epidemic is peak security theatre but ironically universal masking is actually dangerous for a significant portion of the population who happen to be the people everyone keeps talking about "protecting."

[–]Archie 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

In an editorial published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), CDC reviewed the latest science and affirms that cloth face coverings are a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19 that could reduce the spread of the disease, particularly when used universally within communities. There is increasing evidence that cloth face coverings help prevent people who have COVID-19 from spreading the virus to others.

[...]

This review included two case studies out today, one from JAMA, showing that adherence to universal masking policies reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission within a Boston hospital system, and one from CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), showing that wearing a mask prevented the spread of infection from two hair stylists to their customers in Missouri.

[–]OrneryStruggle 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So in an editorial they affirmed they "could" reduce the spread.

But what's the actual evidence that coverings help prevent people from spreading the virus? They don't link to any. CIDRAP and Oxford CEBM both are clear that there is no evidence.

The JAMA study is currently subject to calls for retraction by dozens of scientists as it's just a modelling study by a couple of computer scientists with no background in bio, physics, virology or epidemiology and its methods don't pass muster even to the untrained eye.

The fact that two hairstylists didn't give COVID to their customers is what we call an "anecdote" and not a study at all. Most people who are in contact with COVID-positive people don't get COVID, even when they live with those people.