[dkGba]

I just wonder what kind of masks were worn, did everyone wear same kind of mask? did they fit and were they worn properly, did users practice good mask hygiene? Did they enter into higher risk situations because mask made them feel ‘safe’?

[AndyTheBear]

From my own experience observing people wearing masks during this pandemic just about nobody has a mask that does not have a gap on either side of the nose. Many of those papery blue ones I think everyone has seen till were sick of it. And plenty of people with cloth ones of various sort. None of them tight enough to prevent air from going around them as the person breaths. And several with the mask actually slipping beneath the nose.

Bottom line the reason that masks don't work in the public like they do in hospital settings is because people do a bad job wearing effective masks effectively. Effective masks as I understand it are a real pain. They leave a mark on your face where they've hugged it close enough to prevent air leaking around them. They are not easy to breath through. Wearing them all the time is just more than the general public wants to do when they can get away with ineffective masks that are only a bit annoying--but by all the science I am aware of don't make any positive difference .