I didn't say this study looked at N95, but most studies...conclude... even for N95, but I was wrong in what I said there in recalling the conclusions of other papers as N95 masks do make a difference compared to cloth masks. There are studies looking at cloth, medical and N95 masks, like 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006577 concluding 97% of flu particles go through cloth masks.
Science is messy indeed. I was just using 1 paper from the CDC, but there are more like the one above. Evidence against a hypothesis weighs a lot. "Are masks effective" with data showing they aren't is important to demonstrate. Previous publications said how ineffective cloth masks were, or how viruses passed through cloth masks at a high rate and afforded little protection. And that was before the pandemic. Fauci and the Surgeon General were telling people that masks shouldn't be worn in April. Why did that change now? Maybe it's better data like you point out. Thanks for the quote from the May study, I'll look at it and the 21 studies they included in their analysis. Nullified your vote on your comment for a more accurate representation of comment popularity.
I just want to chime in on one point that you make here, that US officials insisted that masks were not effective in reducing infection rates and DID NOT recommend people wear masks from January to April 2020 (approx.). Then suddenly they did a 180 and officials began recommending and in some places mandating the use of face masks.
Trump recently started wearing a mask, when? Was it in July?
After he refused to wear it for 6 months. Now he quasi-supports masks? This is schizophrenic (no offence to people who have schizophrenia). The amount of contradictory information coming from his administration and throughout media is unbelievable.
The level of incompetence is mind numbing.
This is an immense problem and 1 factor why the US is suffering the worst of this pandemic. Something that is rarely mentioned is the MASSIVE failure of the US healthcare system in dealing with this. I think that this is a greater issue than masks, it's the totality of the response that has been a total disaster right from the beginning.
The flip flopping of the US has been quite staggering indeed. Most countries have suffered from this somewhat since its a totally unprecedented situation and nobody was trained for it. The UK for example attempted the herd immunity thing, only to realise it didn't make sense, and their policies on who can go where, when and in what numbers has been extremely messy too, from designing tracing apps to dumping it and just going with Google/Apple, to family bubbles, to no sex with your neighbours and dumping that within a few days! It's pretty wild to watch from a country which has already moved on
Thanks for the counter vote, it functioned for visibility, its purpose already being served since you replied - removed my own vote too, didn't expect others would top it up.
The study you put here states:
And this is the part most people tend to gloss over unfortunately. MORE research seems like a pain and a waste of time to casual readers. So I think I'm talking to myself as much as you that we need to make very clear that one study is not = the answer, in any scenario, and where possible, use meta-analyses rather than individual studies
One thing I like to do to keep my personal views in check is to read carefully the 'discussion' section in publications, probably most have this but not all. This is where they often highlight the flaws and inconsistencies in their methodologies, and sometimes it can be the difference between me having a conclusion or dumping the idea entirely.