That's like saying common sense would predict that putting a net in a pool will slow the spread of kids' pee.
We know from the Fauci emails he was informed of the ineffectiveness of masks by the CDC and chose to push mask mandates regardless.
We know from the Fauci emails he was informed of the ineffectiveness of masks by the CDC and chose to push mask mandates regardless.
To see a slightly tongue in cheek example, here’s masks vs flamible liquids. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x6cTDGqcUpA
That said, you are probably correct in that aerosols still escape most masks, and will saturate an enclosed area in a much faster time period than we have an intuition for. Still, I have reason to believe from numbers I’ve seen that masks reduce the odds of getting covid by 3-18% in any given hour of exposure. And reduction in spreading to others may be similarly effective. But, since you’re rolling the dice with each hour such a small amount of safety becomes increasingly less useful.
I’m willing to give the benefit of doubt and say that “masks are ineffective” as being shorthand for “if you spend 8 hours in an enclosed space with someone masks alone aren’t going to give enough benefit to be worth it.
Perhaps we should bring back the plague masks.