Mask-wearing helps to reduce the spread of COVID-19; social media posts misinterpreted Annals of Internal Medicine study on N95 respirators
Although mask-wearing doesn’t prevent people from catching COVID-19 with 100% effectiveness, multiple peer-reviewed studies have shown that mask-wearing can and does meaningfully reduce the risk of transmitting the virus. Furthermore, mask-wearing isn’t associated with serious long-term health problems, whereas COVID-19 is. Consequently, mask-wearing is a low-risk intervention that offers important public health benefits, particularly during a pandemic caused by a respiratory virus.