What is the benefit of wearing masks that are not medical masks?

[Ms. Toad]

40. Both, and it is very significant protection.

The CDC and WHO were both wrong to discourage mask use early on, since they encouraged a false belief that masks were worthless that they are now fighting to claw back. Officials from both entities have admitted, to varying degrees, that the incorrect information was conveyed for non-scientific reasons (like not having enough masks avalable for health care workers; like American resistance).

A range of new research on face coverings shows that the risk of infection to the wearer is decreased by 65 percent, said Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/coronavirus/news/your-mask-cuts-own-risk-65-percent/

The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Austria dropped from 90 to 10 cases per one million people, two weeks after the government required everyone to wear a face mask on April 6

.

https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/25410/20200421/austria-90-drop-coronavirus-cases-requiring-people-wear-face-masks.htm

{Myth #3:}

Masks won’t offer any protection for the person wearing one

This is a more complicated one, rooted in truth. The rationale for wearing a mask in the midst of the pandemic is that it will act as a barrier to prevent respiratory droplets from the mouth and nose from dispersing and transmitting the virus to others. That’s considered to be the main way the virus spreads.

But isn’t true 100% that the mask-wearer themselves doesn’t receive any protection from it, Chin-Hong said. “You will get some amount of protection from wearing a mask because it’s just like plexiglass. It will block droplets from hitting your nose or mouth.”

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/will-wearing-a-face-mask-protect-you-from-covid-19-its-complicated-here-are-the-5-biggest-mask-myths-2020-07-09

Protecting others from your asymptomatic self:

Two compelling case reports also suggest that masks can prevent transmission in high-risk scenarios, said Chin-Hong and Rutherford. In one case, a man flew from China to Toronto and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. He had a dry cough and wore a mask on the flight, and all 25 people closest to him on the flight tested negative for COVID-19. In another case, in late May, two hair stylists in Missouri had close contact with 140 clients while sick with COVID-19. Everyone wore a mask and none of the clients tested positive.

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent