Wearing a mask

The conventional advice administered by CDC and WHO is that people who are not sick with COVID-19, and not caregivers of such a sick person, should not wear a mask.

The justification is that an improperly used mask, does not appreciably help, and might make matters worse:

1) Lack of seal means all the germs are being sucked in through the gaps anyway.  And unless N95 or better, lost can still come through the mask itself.

2) Handling the mask, assuming it was worn around sick people, could offload vast numbers of germs onto the hand or face itself during removal.

There are now many who dispute these claims.  As in all my previous pontifications, I don't know where the truth is buried, I'm only trying to ask important questions.

One argument is that since many people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic, and they may be asymptomatic for 2 weeks (or whatever), we should all be wearing masks just in case, to help prevent spreading the virus.   Others even dispute the claim that wearing masks does not help the individual.  Matt Stoller, for one, is strongly pro-mask (though I'm not sure if he makes both arguments).

It's easy to see that a mask might not be perfect.  But this isn't a test of perfect (though many binary reasoning people think it is).  It's a test of probabilities.  If you could lower your risk of getting sick by 50%, or even 25%, merely by doing something cheap and simple, wouldn't you?

Although in this case, you could also argue that while a mask might be cheap (if you already had some, they're simply not available now mostly) they are a big pain in every way, to put on, to take off (and then where do you put it, germs and all?), and while you are wearing it.

I'm inclined to follow the CDC/WHO guidelines in this case and at this time.