It's been my experience that people are irrationally afraid of threats they cannot see despite knowing for certain that risks are low or non-existent. Viruses, CO2, radiation, sharks under the water - all fall into this category. Now the problem with irrational beliefs is that they aren't based upon evidence or logic, it's simply fear. Hopefully your call to the true-believers to explain why they believe will wake them up (fingers crossed) but my expectations are low.
Based on "the science" (so far), one must conclude that masking has a de minimis impact in preventing infection or reducing spread.
But masking does work and work very well to accomplish a valuable political purpose in nations ruled by totalitarians, like Red China, and in nations racing to join them, like USA. Masking helps those governments which harm the people to persuade the people to disbelieve their lying eyes and believe, instead, that their government is there to help them, is helping them, and, in fact, is doing all that can be done to make matters better. In effect, masking helps government convince people to deny reality. Thus, government can better control the people, direct the mob and reduce opposition to totalitarianism.
Masks work! It's just a question of "at doing what?"
"Die Kombination von epidemiologischen Erkenntnissen und tierexperimenteller Bestätigung lässt die Schlussfolgerung zu, dass das Tragen von Masken ein wirksames Instrument in der Pandemiebekämpfung sein kann. Eine schlechtsitzende und nicht enganliegende Maske hat jedoch einen verminderten bis keinen Effekt. Die Effektivität hängt daher vom Träger oder der Trägerin ab."
Essence: masks are effective (due to "epidemiological insights and animal experiments"), but it depends on how you wear them - i.e., they are effective as long as you can blame their non-effectiveness on someone else. I wonder how they made the animals wear them correctly.
Why do people believe masks work? Reminds me of the old joke
“I’ve invented elephant repellent!!”
“How do you know it works?”
“You don’t see any elephants, do you?”
It's been my experience that people are irrationally afraid of threats they cannot see despite knowing for certain that risks are low or non-existent. Viruses, CO2, radiation, sharks under the water - all fall into this category. Now the problem with irrational beliefs is that they aren't based upon evidence or logic, it's simply fear. Hopefully your call to the true-believers to explain why they believe will wake them up (fingers crossed) but my expectations are low.
Based on "the science" (so far), one must conclude that masking has a de minimis impact in preventing infection or reducing spread.
But masking does work and work very well to accomplish a valuable political purpose in nations ruled by totalitarians, like Red China, and in nations racing to join them, like USA. Masking helps those governments which harm the people to persuade the people to disbelieve their lying eyes and believe, instead, that their government is there to help them, is helping them, and, in fact, is doing all that can be done to make matters better. In effect, masking helps government convince people to deny reality. Thus, government can better control the people, direct the mob and reduce opposition to totalitarianism.
Masks work! It's just a question of "at doing what?"
From the official German evaluation report:
"Die Kombination von epidemiologischen Erkenntnissen und tierexperimenteller Bestätigung lässt die Schlussfolgerung zu, dass das Tragen von Masken ein wirksames Instrument in der Pandemiebekämpfung sein kann. Eine schlechtsitzende und nicht enganliegende Maske hat jedoch einen verminderten bis keinen Effekt. Die Effektivität hängt daher vom Träger oder der Trägerin ab."
Essence: masks are effective (due to "epidemiological insights and animal experiments"), but it depends on how you wear them - i.e., they are effective as long as you can blame their non-effectiveness on someone else. I wonder how they made the animals wear them correctly.