Quality control is a LOT lower in China than in the US, and that's even considering the US's bias towards industry in its legislation. This is why chinese electronics catch fire a lot more (than Japanese ones, for example, too).
There's a huge amout of corruption, and almost no regulation.
You misunderstand the utility of masks, where it is significantly more an infected wearer of the mask who protects others by their wearing. So, being infections before you have symptoms is the problem, which is why people should - as is standard in Japan, for example - wear masks in public whenever they feel unwell or feel a 'cold' coming on.
Except the experts are mostly objective. However, the waters have been muddied in the public's view by anti-maskers, like anti-vaxxers. This is a real catastrophe of the pandemic.
You are using a perfection fallacy, or black-and-white thinking here. That a significant number of ordinary peopple do not mask well or do not have / know of the correct mask to use doesn not make the masks or the process ineffective.
Thank you, I hadn't seen this yet, and it's a legitiately well-researched piece by medical scientists with methodological expertise and communicative clarity, which is not always the case.
Your comment is amusing and biting! Sadly, with and irony are not particularly valued on HN. Direct clear expressions are preferable for the expected neurotypes of this pseudo-community.
1. surgical masks are pretty ineffective, but N95 and better masks are very effective, subject to proper use and quality control
2. Mask research and experience pre-COVID in the West was not widely understood by non-experts even in the medical field. Which led to all sorts of doctors with huge egos getting onto Youtube and misinforming people with their poor grasp of science and studies. (Most doctors are not medical sceientists, but artisans).
3. Then look at the huge number of studies since 2020 and you will find that indeed when a study looks at the correct masks ued properly, they work as intended. the biggest problem is the meatsack using the masks, because most of them are not diligent or kind enough to use them.
4. We should allow scientists and medical practitioners to make a mistake, and own up to it to make 180 degree u-turns. This means ghey are using data and experience to update their beliefs, which is good science.
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.
Google sucks on this support. This makes me shy away from their phones and buy Samsung's. Which is practically the same hardware anyway, but with a vaguely human company behind it.