Despite limited evidence, they could have a substantial impact on transmission with a relatively small impact on social and economic life
It’s time to encourage people to wear face masks as a precautionary measure on the grounds that we have little to lose and potentially something to gain, say experts in The BMJ today.
gosh that's not very convincing, "it might work" is the logic
Professor Trisha Greenhalgh at the University of Oxford and colleagues say despite limited evidence, masks “could have a substantial impact on transmission with a relatively small impact on social and economic life.”
The question of whether masks will reduce transmission of covid-19 in the general public is contested.
Although clinical trial evidence on the widespread use of facemasks as a protective measure against covid-19 is lacking , at the time of writing increasing numbers of agencies and governments, including the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, are now advocating that the general population wears masks, but others, such as the World Health Organization and Public Health England are not.
Some researchers argue that people are unlikely to wear masks properly or consistently, and may ignore wider infection control measures like handwashing. Others say the public should not wear them since healthcare workers need them more.
But Greenhalgh and colleagues challenge these arguments and suggest that in the context of covid-19, many people could be taught to use masks properly and may well do this consistently without abandoning other important anti-contagion measures.
What’s more, they say if political will is there, mask shortages can be quickly overcome by repurposing manufacturing capacity – something that is already happening informally.
They conclude that it is time to act without waiting for randomised controlled trial evidence .
“Masks are simple, cheap, and potentially effective,” they write. “ We believe that, worn both in the home (particularly by the person showing symptoms)
so after saying there's no evidence but we should wear them anyway, they move onto "we believe" that the masks are especially useful to stop the infected person from passing on the germs, that's still not evidence, it's just more variations on "we believe"
I won't cut and paste the rest, which also wasn't about whether masks only stop a germy person from sharing germs.
I just wanted to know why some people think that masks are more protective if the sick person wears them than if the healthy person wears them. And it comes down to "we believe" evidence. So there is no evidence. Fine. Just say it's like religion to believe that masks are more protective if the sick person wears them.