Mask mandates don’t work for several reasons:

1. People don’t obey them

2. People use garbage cloth or surgical masks that have poor efficacy. Those masks at best are only effective in partially protecting others if you’re sick, but not vice versa.

3. For the reasons stated above, these studies don’t disprove the efficacy of n95 or higher rated masks

Unlike cloth masks, n95s and higher rated masks have much better efficacy and I have yet to see a study that either focuses on them or differentiates them from near useless masks. A better study would focus on hospitals and their workers’ use of different types of masks. The current studies just help prove my point. Hating masks is something people on both sides of the political spectrum can agree on in the West

I had masks at home well before COVID stuck, mostly for protection against dust and whatnot. Saw how HongKong took desinfection quite seriously, saw how SARS went down.

And still, as long as we don't magically come up with a way to educate millions of people effectively about masks, mask mandates are a wash. (Their best benefit is that anyone who gives a shit does not look like an outlier.)

For the record, I’m not pushing for mandates. They will fail.

I’m just saying that n95 masks are highly effective at preventing the transmission of airborne illnesses such as COVID regardless of whether anyone else wears a mask, along with my observation that the West detests masks ie. I’m not recommending a solution. I’m lamenting the stupid and illogical behavior of people, even educated ones