Comments by "betabenja" (@betabenja) on "Reuters" channel.

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  197.  @ravenrock541  so, I've not looked too hard into this, but there are a couple of points. The article that this is based on is not a study, but a perspective, not based on an experiment: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372 . In it, it discusses whether all medical staff should wear a mask, not jut those in ppe equipment. It states "First and foremost, a mask is a core component of the personal protective equipment (PPE) clinicians need when caring for symptomatic patients with respiratory viral infections, in conjunction with gown, gloves, and eye protection." - this is an admittance that masks do indeed provide a level of protection; their argument seems to be that masks don't provide enough protection in a hospital setting: "A mask alone in this setting will reduce risk only slightly, however, since it does not provide protection from droplets that may enter the eyes or from fomites on the patient or in the environment that providers may pick up on their hands and carry to their mucous membranes" although, this is not actually backed up by any referenced study. But, given this is concerning ppe usage in a hospital setting, it's probably good to back to what they say about using masks outside of a hospital: "We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes .. The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal." the argument here is that masks are not worthwhile because you're unlikely to catch the disease anyway. So, firstly, this does not say that they don't work; secondly, it suggests that the virus spread is so unlikely that masks are not needed - this is demonstrably not true. either way, it looks like this is one article in a bunch of opinion pieces which are discussing the effectiveness of masks, e.g https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020748920302005?via%3Dihub#bib0001 "Mass-masking, no less than altruism, would work more than an individual level in community settings. It may lead to a significant reduction of the basic reproduction number of SARS-CoV-2 and consequently may portray an effect parallel to herd immunity" and https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30918-1/fulltext But, again, these are just opinion pieces. Generally, they all agree that masks do work for protecting against breathing in the virus, but they need to be properly fitted, and overall risk reduction is achieved by hygiene, facial protection and distancing. one article attempts to use studies: http://www.ijrc.in/article.asp?issn=2277-9019;year=2020;volume=9;issue=2;spage=149;epage=152;aulast=Sharma and concludes: "Therefore, social distancing, meticulous hand hygiene and respiratory etiquettes have significant role in curbing the infection transmission rather than use of face mask alone. However, people may use multilayer cloth face covering especially in the areas of significant community based transmission but it should not be used as substitute for social distancing. .. Frontline health care workers caring for confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 must use N95 mask at least when they have a risk of exposure to aerosols." i.e masks work to reduce risk of overall transmission but are not a substitution for all other measures.
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  226.  @ginganinga1010  I agree, people should scrutinise evidence, I apologise for insinuating you were coming down on one side or the other. However, the study here says it has no evidence one way or the other: From the link above: "Most studies were underpowered because of limited sample size, and some studies also reported suboptimal adherence in the face mask group" also, "Study designs in the 7 household studies were slightly different: 1 study provided face masks and P2 respirators for household contacts only (34), another study evaluated face mask use as a source control for infected persons only (35), and the remaining studies provided masks for the infected persons as well as their close contacts" this suggests that this meta study itself is a study of potentially inaccurate studies, some with little control over the subject's use of masks, nor having large enough sample sizes for a statistical conclusion. Still; it is a significant paper. here is a more recent study from the same source, suggesting "Although evidence is limited for their effectiveness in preventing transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, either for source control or to reduce exposure, the wearing of masks by healthy persons may prevent potential asymptomatic or presymptomatic transmission (3). This marginal reduction in transmission may produce substantial results, particularly when it is implemented early." https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/8/20-1498_article#r2 but again, the methodology is not tightly locked down. That study also references one specifically including the corona virus: "Our results indicate that surgical face masks could prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0843-2 but again, sample sizes seem small, even if the study looks to have have randomised its samples and performed the study in a controlled manner. I guess, it is up to us to evaluate these sources, but at least you are providing some for scrutiny. For that, thanks. we need more like you on the side of the discussion, otherwise it's like shining a torch into a void.
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