What's the score on masks?

[goji]

After all, they are there to protect others as much, if not more, than ourselves.

There was a UK report published last year that shows wearing an FFP3 mask dramatically reduces the probability of the wearer catching covid in hospital wards.
They should give more publicity to this, since in the UK, why would anyone wear a mask "to protect others" if 90% of others are already not wearing a mask ? If people were told that a good mask also protected themselves, then wearing a mask makes sense.

I suspect that for many people, objections to wearing a mask are mainly psychological. If we climb up to high altitude (say 3500m or more), the lack of oxygen is really noticeable and can slow one down. However, the body adapts to this.

Even wearing an FFP2 mask, the effect is much less than climbing to altitude. I don't notice any lack of oxygen and don't even notice any increase in breathing rate. Last year, the hotel I stayed in at the end of the trip had a gym, often empty. On some visits to this I was on the exercise bicycle and forgot to take the FFP2 mask off, as it was barely noticeable.

Those far less effective surgical masks must offer almost no obstruction to air flow at all.

I can't comment on people with severe breathing difficulties and have sympathy for the very small percentage of people who might be genuinely unable to wear a mask. However, for the much of the population, I suspect objection to masks must be mainly psychological.

In the UK, lots of people were claiming they were unable to wear a mask, whereas almost everyone manages to wear a mask in Thailand. I doubt that is due to differences in the gene pool.

I'll be wearing FFP3 masks when traveling to Thailand, as I don't want to fail the covid test on arrival. Once that test is passed, I'll probably use FFP2 masks indoors & maybe decorative surgical masks outdoors, just to comply with the rules.
Although a good mask also has the benefit of filtering out PM2.5 particles.