links to all info sources throughout this article, many are in bold in the text itself

Like a fictional tale of a futuristic dictatorship, one where masks are worn as the sign of the complicit. Also worn so the dictators know who not to watch out for. As the enemy of the state are those that do not comply.

Unfortunately the reality of the above seems to lie in the truth is stranger than fiction category.

Regardless of all the studies and demonstrations that a cotton mask does as much for you against the virus, as standing on your head after sex cures poverty. Most nations have mandated adorning the Cotten mask at one point or another. One state even suggesting that after Covid is under control it will remain a compulsory item.

So after 10 studies done by organisations such as the Oxford centre for evidence based Medicine linked here https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-politics/

The U.S. CDC linked here https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article

The European CDC linked here https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/covid-19-face-masks-community-first-update.pdf

here are more university and medical studies linked below, all finding little to no effect of cloth masks

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commentary-masks-all-covid-19-not-based-sound-data

https://www.cochrane.org/CD006207/ARI_do-physical-measures-such-hand-washing-or-wearing-masks-stop-or-slow-down-spread-respiratory-viruses

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0240287

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817

And here is some with reasons that mask wearing is potentially worse than not wearing them. Which when you look at the recent results on the graph below would seem to be quite accurate

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577

https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.1055/a-1174-6591

To date, the only randomized controlled trial (RCT) on face masks against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community setting found no statistically significant benefit (see above). However, three major journals refused to publish this study, delaying its publication by several months.

An analysis by the US CDC found that 85% of people infected with the new coronavirus reported wearing a mask “always” (70.6%) or “often” (14.4%). Compared to the control group of uninfected people, always wearing a mask did not reduce the risk of infection.

So for a little balance lets look at the studies done that point to wearing a mask

1. A meta-study in the journal Lancet, commissioned by the WHO, claimed that masks “could” lead to a reduction in the risk of infection, but the studies considered mainly N95 respirators in a hospital setting, not cloth masks in a community setting, the strength of the evidence was reported as “low”, and experts found numerous flaws in the study. Professor Peter Jueni, epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, called the WHO study “essentially useless”.
2. A study in the journal PNAS claimed that masks had led to a decrease in infections in three global hotspots (including New York City), but the study did not take into account the natural decrease in infections and other simultaneous measures. The study was so flawed that over 40 scientists recommended that the study be withdrawn.
3. A US study claimed that US counties with mask mandates had lower Covid infection and hospitalization rates, but the authors had to withdraw their study as infections and hospitalizations increased in many of these counties shortly after the study was published.
4. A German study claimed that the introduction of mandatory face masks in German cities had led to a decrease in infections. But the data does not support this claim: in some cities there was no change, in others a decrease, in others an increase in infections (see graph below). The city of Jena was an ‘exception’ only because it simultaneously introduced the strictest quarantine rules in Germany, but the study did not mention this.
5. A Canadian study claimed that countries with mandatory masks had fewer deaths than countries without mandatory masks. But the study compared African, Latin American, Asian and Eastern European countries with very different infection rates and population structures.
6. A review by the University of Oxford claimed that face masks are effective, but it was based on studies about SARS-1 and in health care settings, not in community settings.
7. A review by members of the lobby group ‘Masks for All’, published in the journal PNAS, claimed that masks are effective as a source control against aerosol transmission in the community, but the review provided no real-world evidence supporting this proposition.

So the reality is the mask is nothing more than a sign of who follows orders. As it certainly has no medical basis.

Not sure anyone has done a study on wearing two masks yet though…