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This is an argument that neither side can win. If a true believer gets sick wearing a mask, they will blame all the people who aren’t as careful as them. If a sceptic gets sick wearing a mask at a mandated store or workplace, they will claim that the mask did not make any difference. Because I work in the semiconductor industry where we always wear masks in the cleanroom, I know this for a fact- masks work to prevent the spit of ordinary conversation from penetrating to your mouth. However, no mask will prevent something as small as a virus from being inhaled and still allow you to breathe.

What makes masking of the general population so ineffective is not just that most common fabrics cannot stop something as small as a virus, the main reason they don't work -- and reality over the past eight months demonstrates clearly that masks are ineffective against a virus -- is because of the way everyday people, untrained in the selection, fitting, testing, wearing and maintaining of personal protective equipment (specifically, a mask) do so quite improperly, incorrectly and foolishly.

That is, you just can't slap a mask over your nose and mouth without carefully applying, then fit-testing it to form a seal completely around it (critical when dealing with something as infinitessimally as small as a virus), then not touching or moving it at any time once that seal has been established ... otherwise, you need to start all over again applying and fit-testing the seal. Oh, by the way, the mask cannot be worn over facial hair or contact any raised facial blemishes above the surface of the skin; otherwise, you'll never be able to seal it completely around its perimeter and it becomes essentially useless ... except that it may provide a bit of psychological benefit to people who remain scared out of their friggin' minds over this virus.

That's just the way it is with masks.

I wear the mask where I'm ordered to. If I don't there is a risk the government will shut down the grocery store where I shop or the restaurants where my kids work and the good people who work there will lose their jobs.

I wear a nonsurgical mask and I really don't think it does much good but if it gets the morons who govern me to allow more businesses to be open I'll wear the thing.

What shameless lying:

“...although there might be a symbolic effect,” she wrote in an email, “the effect of wearing a mask does not substantially reduce risk”

There was no statistically valid difference within the study between those wearing and not wearing masks, so the study doesn’t show any reduction of risk at all (and of course therefore no substantial reduction of risk).