I would like to try and dispel the myth that wearing masks is ineffective. It's dangerous to perpetuate this myth, it will affect people's lives. Research has been carried out over the last 20 years or more, a lot in south east Asia because that's where they have experienced many epidemics (a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time) and pandemics (a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease prevalent over a whole country or the world).
This piece of research, not peer reviewed at the time of printing in June 2020 (it was a pre-print) available at
https://royalsociety.org/-/media/po...a=en-GB&hash=A22A87CB28F7D6AD9BD93BBCBFC2BB24
is quite clear in it's recommendations. It's contributors, mostly university professors number more than a dozen.
It's key points are summerised as follows:
Cloth face coverings are effective in reducing source virus transmission, i.e., outward protection of others, when they are of optimal material and construction (high grade cotton, hybrid and multi-layer) and fitted correctly and for source protection of the wearer.
• Socio-behavioural factors are vital to understanding public adherence to wearing face masks and coverings, including public understanding of virus transmission, risk perception, trust, altruism, individual traits, perceived barriers.
• Face masks and coverings cannot be seen in isolation but are part of ‘policy packages’ and it is imperative to review interrelated non-pharmaceutical interventions in tandem including hand hygiene, sanitizers and social distancing when maintaining the 2 metre or 1 metre+ distancing rule is not possible.
• Consistent and effective public messaging is vital to public adherence of wearing face masks and coverings. Conflicting policy advice generates confusion and lack of compliance. Populations without a previous history of mask wearing have rapidly adopted face coverings during the COVID-19 period.
This is just one of many reports, the evidence is out there and doesn't take much to find it.