Where I live in SW Missouri during 2020 most of my neighbors refused to wear masks and 72% were infected in that 1st year. Among those who did wear them less than half wore the properly. Most of those I saw wearing them did not cover their nose. I guess that was their way of protesting against the local mandate to wear them.
So there is really no way to analyze the effectiveness of masks if you simply ask "did you wear a mask?" and "did you get infected with Covid?".
I can say that my wife and I did wear masks and we did not get infected with covid. And that we bought a box of N95 grade masks as soon as those were available, which was around the beginning of 2021. We both wore them until the vaccines were available, and we've both got the jab and booster shots as recommended.
The last statistic given by the County here was over a year ago and it said that 78% of the residents had been infected with covid and around 450 were killed by it. That's pretty close to 1 in 100 who live here. Most of those killed by it here were elderly and in nursing homes that 1st year.
I started working with my father customizing cars when I was 14 years old in 1973 and from the very start I wore both paper masks and respirators with filters and way back then I took a lot guff from guys who considered that to be unmanly, so even back then there was a stigma involved with wearing those.
Back then I figured it was a "macho man" thing, but during covid women here also refused to wear them, or wear them properly, and they would sneer at me too when I was wearing one in a store.
I'm not a sociologist but this is something that deserves being studied.
So there is really no way to analyze the effectiveness of masks if you simply ask "did you wear a mask?" and "did you get infected with Covid?".
I can say that my wife and I did wear masks and we did not get infected with covid. And that we bought a box of N95 grade masks as soon as those were available, which was around the beginning of 2021. We both wore them until the vaccines were available, and we've both got the jab and booster shots as recommended.
The last statistic given by the County here was over a year ago and it said that 78% of the residents had been infected with covid and around 450 were killed by it. That's pretty close to 1 in 100 who live here. Most of those killed by it here were elderly and in nursing homes that 1st year.
I started working with my father customizing cars when I was 14 years old in 1973 and from the very start I wore both paper masks and respirators with filters and way back then I took a lot guff from guys who considered that to be unmanly, so even back then there was a stigma involved with wearing those.
Back then I figured it was a "macho man" thing, but during covid women here also refused to wear them, or wear them properly, and they would sneer at me too when I was wearing one in a store.
I'm not a sociologist but this is something that deserves being studied.