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Comment by 40four | Hacker News Reader

This article has fancy animations and whatnot, but lacking in real data. So for anyone not convinced, here is a statistical analysis from my home state South Carolina. The numbers speak for themselves.

https://scdhec.gov/news-releases/dhecs-third-data-analysis-m...

https://scdhec.gov/news-releases/update-mask-requirement-dat...

Highlights:

When comparing the jurisdictions that have mask requirements in place to those that don't, the jurisdictions with mask requirements have shown a 44.2 percent greater decrease in the total number of cases during the five weeks after the requirements were implemented.

Jurisdictions without mask requirements have experienced an overall increase in total cases of 1.2 percent when compared to jurisdictions with a mask requirement in place.

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For anyone convinced in this mask pseudoscience, here is extensive scientific literature over decades that establishes that wearing surgical masks, respirators and cotton masks do not reduce the risk of contracting verified illnesses.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19216002

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-inf...

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1750-2659...

https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/8/567

https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/65/11/1934/4068747

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2749214

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jebm.12381

I looked at three links here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19216002

Is laughably underpowered. 2 people got a cold in one group, 1 in the other. There's nothing to derive from this.

bin-Reza is a review that does not agree with your statement.

Radonovich et al compares N95 and surgical masks, and finds no difference between those.

One has to actually read and critically evaluate scientific papers to learn something.

Smith et al again compares N95 to surgical masks.

Offeddu et al is the same.

Long et al is the same.

So none of these links support your claim.

Ok so I randomly clicked on one of you links and it says

Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicated a protective effect of masks and respirators against clinical respiratory illness (CRI) and influenza-like illness (ILI)

Meta-analysis of observational studies provided evidence of a protective effect of masks and respirators against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

Does the literature talk about reducing the risk of sharing those verified illnesses with others? For example, if a person has an illness that transmits through coughs, then if they wear a mask and cough, is the chance that people around them get the illness lower?

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