I live in Georgia.. very conservative area and mask were gone about a month after this BS started. Mask (N-95 and especially cloth) don’t work period for any airborne pathogen. That’s just fact and they do nothing for anyone trying not to compromise their immune system from anything else. It’s a placebo at best. You want to eliminate airborne pathogens, wear a respirator.
We still have the few libtards around here driving with their mask on alone in the car and out to restaurants but I consider those that do to use them much like a mental crutch.
The real science supports this but the medical science is bought and paid for so they do what they’re told.. much like the climate change scientist.. they’ll lie to get the $$.
Actually, masks do work to some extent. While it’s true that one can say a virus is small enough to theoretically pass through a surgical (paper) mask, this ignores the other protections offered by such a mask (electromagnetic materials that trap various viruses, etc). And while some viruses might manage to pass through, and especially around such a mask, viral load is still important. The lower the viral load, the less severe the disease, at least in the beginning.
And while some airborne viruses like Covid can indeed pass through a surgical mask, masks do offer protection against spread via droplet and diseases caused by larger bacteria.
Properly handled surgical and especially properly fitted N95 masks do protect one from receiving a high viral load of various viral diseases as well as bacterial, but, again, only if properly handled and/or fitted.
Improper fitting and handling of N95 masks and improper handling and reuse of surgical masks do pose a problem. The idiotic “advice” to wear flimsy cloth masks and bandanas was a big fat lie, too.
I was taught by professionals how to properly fit my own N95 mask and my Dad’s when he was undergoing cancer treatment, as well as how to properly handle and dispose of them.
Yes, the only way to eliminate every single airborne virus is a closed respiration system such as those used in BSL-4 labs.
Were mask mandates a huge failure? Of course they were. People were using useless cloth masks, improperly handling and reusing surgical and N95 masks, and not fitting their N95 masks properly. Those mask mandates were stupid, and the lies told to us by Fauci & Friends dangerous and destructive.
That does *not* mean those of us who have use masks for other reasons than Covid and have received training to properlty fit and handle them are in the wrong.