I know many people who wore N95 masks all the time who were infected. More than once too.

I really don't know what to make of that. I can say we did make a point to keep a distance from others, changed our masks pretty often, and we both used hand sanitizer when we were out in public spaces, so it's possible that made a difference.

We were both in our 60s when this crud began, the low end of the high risk group, so could be were more cautious than most.

I’m sure that the aggregate of cautious behavior by people who are willing to wear masks is responsible for at least some of the perceived effectiveness.

My wife and I also have worn masks a lot - but we also tend to avoid crowded indoor events almost entirely now, and use hand sanitizer whenever we leave a public place. We were also quick to get each of our vaccinations.

I think it’s hard to tell with all of the variables involved. I tried to stay away from crowded indoor locations. I wore masks when they were required and wasn’t infected.

Wearing a mask is more effective at preventing you from spreading virus particles if you’re infected than it is at preventing you from being infected.

True, but mostly because it lacks specifics.

Wearing a N95 mask correctly and washing your hands consistently is _quite_ effective at protecting you (and others).

Wearing a nonsense cloth mask, not terribly well fitted, protects you a little bit but mostly protects others some.

In between those it varies.

Nothing does much if you're not washing your hands before touching your face.

People also ignore that initial viral load can be a lot lower from masks (depending) even if you do get infected, which can help with severity.

Your comment does read like 'My grandma has smoked 20 a day all her life and she's still alive at 90'. statistics do not preclude people from being luckier or unluckier than the average.

I don't think they sound like that at all

> disproving causation

If the sequence is: 1- study that shows correlation between X and Y 2- someone says "X causes Y" referencing the study

then it is appropriate to point out that correlation does not imply causation. X may cause Y but you can't claim it based on the correlation study only. The burden of proof is on you. Nobody needs to disprove causation here.

We stopped wearing masks after about a month after our 1st vaccination. We've both kept up on those vaxxes since. I work from home so I'm so I'm rarely in crowds but my wife works at a resort and interacts with folks from all over and she's still not been infected.

One of our adult daughters refused to get vaxxed and came to visit for Christmas in 2022 and just 5 days after she arrived she got sick af here. She was in bed for 5 days. Her 2 children, who were 15 and 11 years old and not vaxxed didn't come down with any symptoms at all though and they stayed very close to her.

That same daughter has been infected 2 or 3 times since then and is now dealing with "long covid" issues.

I expect we will see another wave soon as well. People will be gathering and sharing it again. That happened last year and nothing much has changed since aside from the severity of infections, and that probably had do so with natural immunity from prior infections, and folks are still dying from it.

The vaxxes have worked for us though so we'll keep up on them.