Edit: oh I see, so the theory is that case rates would have been even higher without the high compliance rates in Asia. Classic unfalsifiable hypothesis.
The Bangladesh study that even mask advocates like to cite showed a 10% reduction in transmission, hardly worth all the depersonalization and discomfort that masks impose.
Vaccines have high level of evidence. Closures probably don't have any evidence at all.
> Many commentators have claimed that a recently-updated Cochrane Review shows that 'masks don't work', which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation.
> It would be accurate to say that the review examined whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses, and that the results were inconclusive. Given the limitations in the primary evidence, the review is not able to address the question of whether mask-wearing itself reduces people's risk of contracting or spreading respiratory viruses.
https://www.cochrane.org/news/statement-physical-interventio...
As far as recommendations go in medicine go – thing can be recommended only if they have evidence. The review found that we don't have such evidence.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.7904...
The results are hedged with might and could and they suggest further study would be a good thing, and it notes that their observations might be related to another thing that might be interesting in COVID patients.
There's no concrete tie in to COVID there and is really just commentary on 12 weeks of study that might lead somewhere that could be COVID related.
