[nostrebored]

Right, and fitted N95s are not safe for prolonged wear.

There are exactly zero RCTs that suggest that masks are effective, the parent comment is correct. The single RCT that claims effectiveness was on hamsters.

Completely missing from pro-mask discourse is potential impact of large-scale masking on children. Developmental delays are starting to pop up, and previous public health advocates for masking are starting to turn course.

[gilbetron]

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02457-y

Your first two statements are just wrong, shockingly so after over 2 years where you could have educated yourself and decided not to.

Your last statement is definitely something we need to look into, but I think the development delays are probably minimal (speaking as a parent of a kid that wore masks at a critical age), but I think the social isolation was far more significant.

[PathOfEclipse]

"The study linked surgical masks with an 11% drop in risk, compared with a 5% drop for cloth."

The cloth results were statistically insignificant, meaning indistinguishable from noise. The surgical mask results barely passed the statistical significance test, but lose that significance as soon as the data are stratified by age.

On top of that, there have been numerous problems with the study that call into questions even the incredibly meager positive results it managed to show: https://www.justfactsdaily.com/famed-bangladesh-mask-study-e...

You are the one who needs to educate yourself.