You ideally want to on the one hand encourage mask wearing, but on the other downplay potential benefits to the wearer (especially as these remain controversial at best). Masks sometimes give people a false sense of security, and they change their behaviour.

Wearing a mask is probably the most uncontroversial effective thing you can do to decrease your risk right up there with washing your hands. If they didn't work then healthcare workers wouldn't be upset about the shortages.

Spreading false information about masks because you feel like the truth has a negative impact on other behaviors or that people might not use them correctly isn't right. That is the kind of behavior that leads to people's mistrust in experts and the media.

Yeah the whole noble lie thing is pernicious because even really stupid people are often good at telling when people are lying to them. Problem is once people realize you're lying they have no good way of telling what the truth is.

So you just fucked them.

Absolutely, and the really stupid thing about the whole "masks don't help" lie is the same sources saying in one breath that there are masks shortages at hospitals and in the next that they don't help. Talk about a credibility killer.

>If they didn't work then healthcare workers wouldn't be upset about the shortages.

looks like a slew of hands a bit. Public mask wearing is about any masks/face covering/etc. while healthcare workers upset about shortage of medical grade masks.

Santa Clara health department specifically discourages public from using medical grade masks to alleviate the shortage for healthcare workers.

https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/learn-what-to-do....

"Face coverings should not be surgical or medical masks, which are in short supply and urgently needed by healthcare workers. Instead, face coverings such as bandanas, scarfs, or home-sewn fabric coverings should be used."

Masks made from commonly available fabrics were found to have similar filtration efficiency to N95 certified masks.

[0] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252

you need to tell that to those picky Canadians (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/n95-masks-rejected-montreal...), healthcare workers and everybody else who wants N95.

> This is false. A more accurate statement would be, "masks help".

Actually, the accurate statement would be "Masks may help protect you a little bit, but they're much better preventing you from spreading the virus to others."

The best production you can have is if those around you are conscientious, and you are likewise.