From the editorial: "It would be accurate to say that the review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses, and that the results were inconclusive. Given the limitations in the primary evidence, the review is not able to address the question of whether mask-wearing itself reduces people's risk of contracting or spreading respiratory viruses."
Whether you think the editorial was them caving or not, they also issued it under their own name with the same weight as their other reviews, so they must have thought enough of it to do so.
Given that there's ample laboratory evidence of the filtering capacity of a good N95 or even a KN95 mask, and having worked with an N95 respirator in tuberculosis control settings for 17 years and never converted my TB test, I think I'll stick with the mask in future and I have no hesitation recommending winter masking to others who believe they are at risk of complications.
I've liked not being sick for the last three years.
Whether you think the editorial was them caving or not, they also issued it under their own name with the same weight as their other reviews, so they must have thought enough of it to do so.
Given that there's ample laboratory evidence of the filtering capacity of a good N95 or even a KN95 mask, and having worked with an N95 respirator in tuberculosis control settings for 17 years and never converted my TB test, I think I'll stick with the mask in future and I have no hesitation recommending winter masking to others who believe they are at risk of complications.
I've liked not being sick for the last three years.