[laughingman2]

Masks can protect other people primarily. If you're sick and don't know (asymtomatic), developing symptoms only now, if you're sick and don't have any option but to go out etc.

And your point on masks not protecting incoming droplets is wrong. When people sneeze, droplets can go more than 5 feet. Masks reduce exposure to such droplets.

https://medium.com/@Cancerwarrior/covid-19-why-we-should-all...

Research is on going on how immunity responds to decreased exposure to viral loads.

And masks can remind people to not touch faces and remind others that we're in a pandemic.

[gridlockd]

> Masks can protect other people primarily. If you're sick and don't know (asymtomatic), developing symptoms only now, if you're sick and don't have any option but to go out etc.

I'm aware of that, nevertheless what I say is true. Wearing a mask raises suspicion of you being sick. The irrationality of that doesn't matter.

> When people sneeze, droplets can go more than 5 feet. Masks reduce exposure to such droplets.

You're still going get them in your eyes, you're still going to breathe them in, you're still going to get infected. Why aren't people recommending to wear glasses or better yet, goggles? Why not a whole ski outfit?

> https://medium.com/@Cancerwarrior/covid-19-why-we-should-all....

Literally nothing in there says any more than "won't harm at worst, may help at best". No science, whatsoever, just speculation.

Let me then speculate how it might actually harm: You're carrying around a net to catch all those aerosols around you, then you'll be breathing against it constantly. You bring it home, at which point it is essentially a bio-hazard of which you need to dispose of properly, which you won't, because you're an average person.

Do I have any evidence on that hypothetical risk? No, but neither does the other side that claims it doesn't do any harm.

> And masks can remind people to not touch faces...

Yes, I omitted that.

>... and remind others that we're in a pandemic.

...as if people needed to be reminded about that. Soon enough, they'll have heard enough about it and start ignoring it again.

[fit2rule]

How is it you could be provided with such clear evidence, yet you still insist on being absolutely correct?

What is your explanation for the graph on this page, which clearly shows that wearing a mask has massive effect on the spread of the disease?

https://www.maskssavelives.org

[gridlockd]

> ...you still insist on being absolutely correct?

I don't. I haven't been provided clear evidence, I have been given speculation. I can speculate as well.

As a general rule, is a mask going to protect you from infection? No. There is overwhelming evidence to support that. Even an N95 mask will not protect you. Your eyes are still exposed, you'll still be breathing in a sufficient amount of particles to get infected.

On the average, might it reduce your personal risk of infection at least a little bit, because of some droplets missing your mouth? Maybe, maybe not. We don't know that. It might increase your risk, for the reasons I have mentioned. This is not just me speculating, I have seen it in medical papers as well.

The idea that "you cannot protect yourself" simply isn't as popular, so people cling to the idea that cloth masks that everyone can make themselves will protect them. Fair enough, but then we should be recommending diving goggles as well. We should be recommending people to cover their clothes in plastic bags to dispose of later, because that too is "better than nothing".

> What is your explanation for the graph on this page, which clearly shows that wearing a mask has massive effect on the spread of the disease?

It doesn't show that, that's spurious reasoning. If that was valid reasoning, I might as well re-label those circles with "eating mostly rice" and "eating mostly wheat" and claim that "rice saves lives". Correlation does not imply causation, there's lots of other factors at play here.

Nevertheless, widespread wearing masks may well significantly reduce the spread of the disease to others, I said that myself. It just won't protect you.

[interestica]

Is there any research the compares eyes vs other pathways for viruses? How vulnerable are eyes?

[Dahoon]

Correlation does not imply causation. Of all the science done you could have linked and you link to what is just an opinion site.

[fit2rule]

Thats okay, the OP I was replying to only had an opinion, too.

[ThrowawayR2]

> "What is your explanation for the graph on this page, which clearly shows that wearing a mask has massive effect on the spread of the disease?

> https://www.maskssavelives.org*"

Not that I have a dog in this fight but that site was debunked as not constituting actual proof and flagged off the front page by HN's readership: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22706216

[shawnz]

The chart itself indicates that all the circled countries took drastic corrective action to stop the spread. Plus, China is not circled despite a pro-mask culture there.

I am open to the possibility that masks really work, but this particular link doesn't really show that for me.

[blackoil]

Hubris, Xenophobia, some form of White Supremacy. on a bigger scale, whole western world is acting like this for last couple of months, blaming CCP and China but taking no action.