I would still push back that "N95s work". I'd love the see an RCT that suggests they can make a statistically significant difference to not masking (there aren't any). This means at best all you can say is they are good at filtering particles in mechanistic studies (but unclear on transmission of disease) and at times they are correlat…
I would still push back that "N95s work". I'd love the see an RCT that suggests they can make a statistically significant difference to not masking (there aren't any). This means at best all you can say is they are good at filtering particles in mechanistic studies (but unclear on transmission of disease) and at times they are correlated with places with mask mandates or self reported mask usage. But, correlation does not equal causation, so if you are implying they can stop covid transmission when you say they "work" that has not been demonstrated in the literature. Again, our language needs to be specific.
Regarding your personal N of one case I think that's great, but unfortunately it's not good evidence that it's the mask vs any of the other mitigation strategies you used or just dumb luck. Also, without a control arm you don't know if you wouldn't have had the same result if you did nothing. Maybe you could have gotten the same result with fewer or even no strategies. If you are willing to alter you life like that to avoid respiratory disease, then by all means. But, by comparison I did nothing other than was required by law, avoided no social situations (if fact got married w/ 100+ people in Sept 2020), and just lived my life as I always have, and never had a covid symptom once. Same result...but I didn't have to do anything to get mine & you had to do a lot. At this point this is where we are. If avoiding mild infection is important enough to you to do that, then do that. If you feel that's an intrusion on your life and infections are likely to be mild and unavoidable and that doesn't bother you, then just go about your life. I don't think either are wrong. The only thing I find fault in is moralizing your choice (not saying you are) or making incorrect claims that are not supported in evidence.
I would still push back that "N95s work". I'd love the see an RCT that suggests they can make a statistically significant difference to not masking (there aren't any). This means at best all you can say is they are good at filtering particles in mechanistic studies (but unclear on transmission of disease) and at times they are correlated with places with mask mandates or self reported mask usage. But, correlation does not equal causation, so if you are implying they can stop covid transmission when you say they "work" that has not been demonstrated in the literature. Again, our language needs to be specific.
Regarding your personal N of one case I think that's great, but unfortunately it's not good evidence that it's the mask vs any of the other mitigation strategies you used or just dumb luck. Also, without a control arm you don't know if you wouldn't have had the same result if you did nothing. Maybe you could have gotten the same result with fewer or even no strategies. If you are willing to alter you life like that to avoid respiratory disease, then by all means. But, by comparison I did nothing other than was required by law, avoided no social situations (if fact got married w/ 100+ people in Sept 2020), and just lived my life as I always have, and never had a covid symptom once. Same result...but I didn't have to do anything to get mine & you had to do a lot. At this point this is where we are. If avoiding mild infection is important enough to you to do that, then do that. If you feel that's an intrusion on your life and infections are likely to be mild and unavoidable and that doesn't bother you, then just go about your life. I don't think either are wrong. The only thing I find fault in is moralizing your choice (not saying you are) or making incorrect claims that are not supported in evidence.