[newacct583]

This is basically wrong. This has been studied, they do work. They don't work nearly as well as proper PPE for personal protection, which tends to trip people up (especially, it must be noted, the libertarians here) when reasoning about them.

But controlling outbreaks is not about minimizing individual risk. By far the biggest effect of wearing a simple mask or face shield, and it's a very significant effect, is that it prevents contagious individuals from spewing droplets into the air around them.

It's not for you, basically. It's for everyone else. Wear a mask.

[olyjohn]

I have been wearing a homemade mask when I go out. I understand the studies say they work... But man I am pretty sure my breath is just going out around all the edges. My sunglasses fog up as I'm walking into the store. And when I take them off, my breath is just going up around my face at a higher velocity. I guess it's not going towards other people though... the more I read, the less I know about this shit.

[kaybe]

Does your mask have a piece of wire around the nose? I find that really helps with the glasses.

[glofish]

All evidence out there indicates that continuous exposure in closed environments is what spreads the infection. Would droplets hang in the air for that long? Most likely not.

All the mask evidence is purely speculative of the style: "it has to work" - something there in front of your face, ergo the effect has to be more than zero.

Yet I will maintain that until a proper public health study it might just as well be harmful. For all we know they may cause asthma, allergies and so on. Breathing through a material cannot be good for the human body.