Face masks worn in the correct way, handled correctly and changed regularly may have a small effect on transmission. Face coverings on the other hand, worn part of the time on chins, reused all day and stuffed in pockets do not.
Indeed; a proper mask designed to filter virus particles does work.
Wearing a high grade FFP3 mask can almost entirely protect health workers from Covid, research finds.
www.bbc.co.uk
Wearing a high grade mask known as an FFP3 can provide up to 100% protection.
By contrast, there is a far greater chance of staff wearing standard issue surgical masks catching the virus.
Though fluid resistant, these masks are relatively flimsy and loose-fitting and are not meant to screen out infectious aerosols - tiny virus particles that can linger in the air and are now widely accepted as a source of coronavirus infection.
The study showed a 47 fold difference between the flimsy standard masks and the FFP3 masks.
However people who advocate mandatory masks are not keen on the outcome of this study, because FFP3 masks are effective for the wearer, which destroys their argument.
The argument for mandatory masks works on the basis that they are to protect others, and they don't want a situation in which vulnerable people can protect themselves as that's not part of their agenda.
...However, we now find ourselves in the position where the most vulnerable are double jabbed and the majority of adults have at least a single jab. So with that in mind whilst I have no objection to the government issuing guidance on situations where it may still be sensible, on balance, to wear a face covering I see no reason why it needs a legal weight behind it....
I agree, and it's better than that:
GOV.UK Coronavirus dashboard
coronavirus.data.gov.uk
1st dose: 87.6%
2nd dose: 67.5%
Sadly I don't think we will exceed 90% as the pace of 1st doses has slowed right down now.
Another argument given for mandatory face masks is that vaccines can be rendered useless by variants, which is untrue. People often make this claim against the Oxford AZ vaccine in particular, and often in relation to the 'Beta' variant, due to a botched small-scale study.
A molecular biologist called Chise on Twitter regularly references studies which demonstrate that this isn't the case, for example:
A recent study shows Oxford/ AstraZeneca’s vaccine gives powerful protection and generates robust long-term immune system responses that may last a lifetime! As well as generating virus-busting antibodies, the vaccine also creates “training camps” in the body for for search-and-destroy T-cells (CD8+ T-cells) which can kill even new variants! What does this mean? It means your immune system can continue making these vital cells long after antibodies have waned- and possibly for the rest of your life! Researchers showed adenovirus vectors can target
(Study:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-021-00969-3 )
One of the world's leading Virologists also believes in the effectiveness of vaccines against variants:
1hr 9min 40sec:
The B cell epitopes are different to the T cell epitopes.
The spike protein has B cell epitopes which are recognised by antibodies and T cell epitopes which are recognised by T cells. The T cell epitopes are not changing. That's why the T cells still protect against the variants
Edit: and here is a tweet from Vincent Racaniello:
The term 'breakthrough infection' is wrong. Most human vaccines do NOT prevent infection. They prevent disease, which is what
#COVID19 vaccines were tested for. It doesn't matter if infections occur, what matters is moderate to serious disease
#dropbreakthrough
And finally, another reason people give for mandating masks is that the vaccine "does not protect" people who are in "at risk" groups. But this is also a false claim:
When considering all risk groups together or when focussing on the shielding group, there was generally no reduction in VE compared to those not in risk groups. In some cases, VE was higher in the shielding group after 2 doses, though confidence intervals were very wide. When stratifying into groups of specific conditions the only group where VE was notably diminished was the immunocompromised group. In the cohort analysis, VE after one dose of any vaccine was just 4.0% (95% CI -31.5% to 29.9%). However, this increased to 74.1% (95% CI 48.8% to 87.0%) after 2 doses. In the TNCC, dose 2 effects were similar but dose 1 VE was 18.3% (95% CI -18.4% to 43.7%). Dose 2 effects were similar for the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. Among other risk groups, VE estimates do not differ significantly from those in non-risk groups.
So even in the most affected cohort, effectiveness is around 74% "against symptomatic medically attended COVID-19".
It is widely accepted that the effectiveness of vaccines against
serious symptoms is much greater than the effectiveness against symptomatic Covid, so the figure that really counts, which is protecting against severe disease, will be even higher.
This post has not not delved into how the mask mandate harms the day to day activities of people with hearing impairments, anxieties, medical conditions, hidden disabilities and more, but I have covered this extensively before.