My belief is that face masks are much better than social distancing when people are in public. I've hinted at this in a few posts, but didn't feel like getting into a prolonged discussion about it.
In China face masks became universal, near 100% compliance. While social distancing was not emphasized or mentioned much at all. Of course China banned large gatherings and shut down offices and schools for months. Lockdowns plus face masks proved very effective here.
Face masks are a direct block to viral spreading. They impede respiration and water droplets from travelling. Social distancing seems much vaguer. 6 feet is fairly arbitrary. In small food shops common in Shanghai (and NYC), it's also not very practical/possible. And it's not always easy to be sure if you are within 6' or not anyway.
There's also the issue of aerosolized particles and you want to stay 6 feet or preferably further from any cough, sneeze, talking that puts a cloud of droplets into the air. That is, you don't just want to stay 6' from another person, but 6 feet away from any aerosol droplet emission they might leave hanging in the air, which you can't see, and might walk right through.
Staying away from other people makes plenty of sense to me. But having a mask on in public when people are close by or further than 6' is best. When riding my bike or on an empty street, I would simply move the mask on to my chin. These all seem like very basic common sense behaviors to restrict the spread of a respiratory virus. Handwashing too, though that strikes me as likely to have the least effect.
There was something COVID-related last week, I forget the detail for now, and the response was that there was no scientific study that said that whatever was true. And that was an early argument against face masks. But just because something hasn't been studied doesn't make it not true. And sometimes something isn't studied because it seems to be simply common sense true (even back in 1918 face masks were used to stop the Spanish flu).
Finally last week, Dr. Birx referred to two studies that said masks were effective, though I didn't see any link to the studies. I'm glad mask wearing increased in the US. And that statistic that even 50% mask wearing will reduce the r rate below 1 is encouraging. If mask wearing occurred sooner and with more compliance, a lot of lives would have been saved in the US, and a lot fewer sick people.
It's too bad basic health care became so politicized int eh US, but I guess it's been that way for over half a century. Ronald Reagan made LP records explaining how Medicare and Medicaid were taking away freedoms and the first steps towards a commie takeover.
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