COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.]
I literally quoted public health experts who say regular masks don't stop omicron.
Look at the rates of omicron spread in areas with a mask mandate versus areas without one last December-February - the omicron wave hit just as hard in "masked" areas as it did in the rural south/midwest.
Whatever value there was in 'everyday' masks in stopping Covid up until last winter, it went away with omicron. I understand that is not what people want to hear but it is still the case.
You're missing the nuance of my post and you also ignored the rest of the article you posted. You're making this very binary for some odd reason. Even in areas that have heavy mask usage, there are many around them who don't.
The point of the article was that with Omicron, we'd better step up our protection, not just do the minimum. However, while one line says
“Cloth masks are not going to cut it with omicron,” said Linsey Marr, a researcher at Virginia Tech
She then followed it up with more 'color'
Marr described cloth masks as marginally okay, but with omicron just “okay” isn’t good enough. She cited a
study conducted by The University of Hong Kong which found that the omicron variant infects and multiplies 70 times faster inside the human respiratory tract tissue than the delta variant. That research is currently under peer review for publication.
Later it talks about how gaiters increased droplets, but we all talked about that study a year or so ago... the measured fomites.. which could also be dust, fabric debris, etc. They also didn't wash any of the masks before testing. So, they couldn't distinguish between spittle going through the mask, or dust/debris from the outside of the mask being ejected.
Leana Wen, public health professor at George Washington University and an emergency physician,
has urged the public to wear high-quality masks and described cloth masks as, “little more than facial decorations.” She said cloth masks should not be considered an acceptable form of face covering and that the U.S. should require and distribute medical-grade surgical masks.
Despite the ongoing research on the various strengths of different face masks,
CDC director Rochelle Walensky said this week during a White House COVID-19 response press briefing that the health agency was not going to be changing their mask guidance. She said updated information would be published on the CDC’s website to reflect the different levels of protection different masks provide.
So, the point was they wanted to ratchet up the guidance because cloths masks were ok, but not good enough to them, and they wanted people in surgical masks... she's not even saying N95 masks, which aren't surgical masks.
So, I'll agree that not all masks are created equal. I'll agree that some masks aren't as effective. But I won't agree and say they do nothing. And I won't agree that just because some people will choose to wear less effective masks on a plane, that the whole thing is theater.
Sometimes requirements are the minimum, not the best or perfect. It's like pieces of flair. 15 is the minimum required, but do you want to be seen as someone who just does the minimum? ;)