| I don't understand your hard-lined conclusion when the paper that the blog post references can't reach a conclusion either. The blog post also reaches a semi-hard lined conclusion yet still leaves room for additional work as it should. Problems with the study: - Not everyone the participants are interacting with also have a mask (Blog post references this with "protects you, not me") - The result is "Although the difference observed was not statistically significant, the 95% CIs are compatible with a 46% reduction to a 23% increase in infection." - "The recommendation to wear surgical masks to supplement other public health measures did not reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate among wearers by more than 50% in a community with modest infection rates, some degree of social distancing, and uncommon general mask use." My point is "Masks are in effective" can't be concluded from this. It failed to show a reduction of 50%, sure, but what about 25% at a higher CI? Was it literally 0% at 5 sigma? Clearly more work needs to be done to show 0% at any meaningful CI. If you don't believe in masks fine, don't go see other people - it's way more effective anyway. |
You spins the wheel, you takes your chances, I guess...