Read on Twitter
I think we remain skeptics as you suggest but also there’s an impetus to act. Let’s not conflate a treatment for those with the disease with a preventative health intervention. We both agree we’d love to to see studies that better outline the impact. 1/ https://twitter.com/thesgem/status/1274011672634699783
At the same time, we didn’t wait for an RCT for social distancing, lockdowns or handwashing. Lockdowns specifically being mandated (we won’t debate the others not being mandated). If you observe how ppl behave with options of masks being required vs not...
It’s clear we see the underpinnings of human behaviour (predictable). I think @TheSGEM will always refute anything unless RCT (presumptive gold standard) tho we also have to implement policy. Failure to act also risks poor outcomes. This a continuous risk/benefit analysis
So i do favor RCT but meanwhile make masking mandatory (probably only indoors). We can argue about impact on envt which is not zero though if we get ahead of #covid with legit masking approach perhaps less long term impact then slow burn.
I’d prefer to be wrong advocating for mandatory indoor masks rather than be staunch against mandtory masks and eventually be right. also I realize little will convince those against mandatory masking as they will continually ask for better evidence.
And while we all agree, evidence is preferred...we accept risks and benefits of simply making a decision. I also accept that agreement on this is unlikely so not overly concerned on trying to convince those against universal (indoor) masking.
