I believe that is what pre-COVID masking in hospital settings has shown, yes. Possibly COVID is different from the flu.
But the difficulty for proving masking helps is:
1. If it only takes ~20 virions to get infected, then masking has to have a basically perfect filtering rate and be worn perfectly 100% of the time, neither of which is obvious.
2. With an endemic virus even if masks slow down spread they aren't going to reduce your likelihood of being infected overall.
> Consistent use of a face mask or respirator in indoor public settings was associated with lower odds of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result (adjusted odds ratio = 0.44). Use of respirators with higher filtration capacity was associated with the most protection, compared with no mask use.
I'll take a reduced risk, even if it's not perfect. Would you prefer to get covid one time, or five times? It's like arguing "why bother wearing a seatbelt, when it doesn't prevent injuries in accidents?"
Also, are you suggesting masking does not help with preventing influenza infection?
jtc331|2 years ago
But the difficulty for proving masking helps is: 1. If it only takes ~20 virions to get infected, then masking has to have a basically perfect filtering rate and be worn perfectly 100% of the time, neither of which is obvious. 2. With an endemic virus even if masks slow down spread they aren't going to reduce your likelihood of being infected overall.
timcederman|2 years ago
> Consistent use of a face mask or respirator in indoor public settings was associated with lower odds of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result (adjusted odds ratio = 0.44). Use of respirators with higher filtration capacity was associated with the most protection, compared with no mask use.
I'll take a reduced risk, even if it's not perfect. Would you prefer to get covid one time, or five times? It's like arguing "why bother wearing a seatbelt, when it doesn't prevent injuries in accidents?"
Also, are you suggesting masking does not help with preventing influenza infection?