[d2p]

> At best, they're effective at presenting people who don't know they're sick from infecting others.

I don't have numbers, but I'm pretty sure the number of people infected by people that didn't know they were sick is significant. Imagine if all those sick people wore masks (or some substitute, like a scarf over their mouth/nose).

If we can agree that wearing a mask (or substitite) if you might be sick is a good idea, but you don't know if you might be sick, that seems to translate to wearing a mask (or substitute) is a good idea.

> that only works if you can mask a significant portion of the population without a shortage of masks for people who we know need them.

I agree it's important to reserve masks for those who need them most, but that doesn't mean we have to teach people they are not effective. We could instead teach them how "non-masks" can make very reasonable substitutes. And let's not forget that reducing the spread has a real impact on the need for healthcase workers to have them.

[robocat]

> I don't have numbers, but I'm pretty sure the number of people infected by people that didn't know they were sick is significant.

Look at the number of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic cases (approx 50%) there are in the two full population studies on the Princess Cruise ship, and Vò (in Italy).