[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SNIPERBBB

Surgeons wear surgical masks to keep from spitting their gum or sneezing into someones open body cavity. Absolutely no study has shown that surgical masks do anything for respiratory viruses.

Read the National Institute of Health article again. Certainly better than a study one finds on Facebook, Twitter, Instagraph, or My Space.

This study cites dozens of studies that say the same thing, masks work.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8084286/

The effectiveness of masks in population-wide scenarios has been proven to be significant … community-based research has demonstrated the efficacy of cloth masks in slowing down the spread of COVID-19 ... For the general public, the use of cloth masks in public settings, such as grocery stores and places of worship, especially in regions with known or suspected widespread transmission, or in situations where physical distancing is not possible, has been encouraged by the WHO and many policy makers ... consistent and proper usage of facial coverings can help minimize symptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during close contact ... COVID-19 transmission rates are generally lower in countries and regions where citizens are accustomed or required to adopt universal masking, such as many parts of Asia. Simulations and mathematical models have also predicted that the adoption of universal masking would substantially curtail the spread of COVID-19 ... observational studies have presented real-world evidence that suggests mask-wearing helps mitigate community transmission of COVID-19 ... face mask mandates reduced the number of newly reported SARS-CoV-2 infections between 15 and 75% within the first 20 days of their introduction ... study focused on 15 states and Washington D.C., in which all able individuals were mandated to wear a face mask in public settings. Similarly, it was found that face mask mandates were associated with a lower COVID-19 daily growth rate, and that this effect increased over time after the mandates were put in place ... study found that within the first few weeks after the mask mandate came into effect, the average weekly number of newly diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections decreased by 25–31% ... mask mandates accounting for an estimated 36–46% reduction in weekly case numbers ... all available epidemiologic evidence suggests that community-wide mask-wearing results in reduced rates of COVID-19 infections.