bobzilla said:
In reply to aircooled :
Since this has been ignored for a few days I'll be the sucker to ask. If transmission rates are similar across all these countries, wouldn't this indicate that mask wearing really isnt having an actual effect? Or at the least so minimal that the hand wringing and shaming that has been going on might be wrong? Or am I interpreting this differently?
Good question to ask, but I'm not sure that the graph above will tell you much, even when you go searching for the information and validation one way or the other to the question that you asked. Why? Because it is too late, and the populations at this point are different. Spain, Italy, France, were all ravaged by it early. UK was as well, but not to the same extent. Border lockdowns went into place early throughout much of Europe, different stay at home orders, different populations and population densities, etc.
Think of it as if you did your first autocross run and it was 60 seconds, then in the grid, you changed the tire pressure in all tires, turned off traction control, changed the settings on your Konis, and sprayed your tires with water to cool them. Your second run is 55 seconds... Which one of those changes helped? Did any hurt? No way of knowing, you can't isolate the change. Oh, and even though the course may be the same, one country may be running on asphalt and the other on concrete... Maybe not the best example, but I'm just saying I don't think that your question is easily answered using the data above.
Ultimately though, the science on it is pretty clear:
And I have to get working on my actual work, so no sources, but the other thing that is being observed is that if nothing else, they definitely lessen the viral load. What that means is that people may still get sick if everyone wears a mask, but there will be less people getting sick, and the people that do get sick, are getting a milder case. That is especially important for the frontline health workers, and others that can't avoid close contact with others, like teachers and their families (if we get back into schools this fall).
All of that above paragraph I have read from reputable sources. The following is my own conjecture: I'd also imagine that we see less of the ongoing [terrifying, to me] issues with less viral load, like the Kawasaki Disease-like symptoms, heart damage, lung damage, and brain damage.
