[danielmarkbruce]

"they are not being more careful" is likely a flawed assumption. Many, many more people are wearing masks now. Where I am, the % of people wearing masks went from low single digits in april/may to 90%+. I've visited a couple different cities and it's the same - massive increase in mask wearing. People are being more careful in many places.

[gloriosoc]

I think mask wearing and social distancing is slowing the spread in some places. CA and OH for example have seen a slow when more stringent policies were put into place. But I don't think Louisiana and Florida are being more careful and they are seeing a drop in cases.

[ketamine__]

Observational research is not good enough for public policy. Look at the spike in cases in Japan. It completely destroys the correlation.

> What do scientists do in the face of uncertainty on the value of global interventions? Usually, they seek an answer with adequately designed and swiftly implemented clinical studies as has been partly achieved with pharmaceuticals. We consider it is unwise to infer causation based on regional geographical observations as several proponents of masks have done. Spikes in cases can easily refute correlations, compliance with masks and other measures is often variable, and confounders cannot be accounted for in such observational research.

https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-...