Nearly a month after my tweets about infection rates AFTER countries mandated mask wearing gained some attention, perhaps it's time for an update.
Some countries have strengthened their use, such as UK, France, Spain.

Remember, they tell you that mask wearing reduces how far an aerosol can travel (absolutely true) and this equates to reduced infections. So do we see this in any of the global data?
Let's have a look.....

Venezuela. Mandated in March. Nothing here to show masks have made a difference. Damn.

Vietnam. Interesting. Mandated in March.
We see a decrease going into May, June & July. Promising.
But then August. UH-OH SPAGHETTIOS. Maybe they all took the masks off.

Czech Republic. Again, perhaps some initial success after mandating in March, but then by end of July, perhaps they forgot how to wear them, or left them in their handbags or they forgot to wash them or something.

Slovakia. March 25th introduction. Same story, though quite low numbers.

Bosnia. Strangely steady of late but their infections from very low numbers to 250 a day still doesn't prove any mask efficiency. I guess we can make it up if we want, but the data shows only rising cases through June and July.

Colombia. We're seeing a nice fall of late, but they mandated masks in April and it only rose after that until recently. Not a thing can be inferred here to prove mask efficiency. Nothing here to show masks have made a difference.

C'mon, surely I can find ONE country where in the weeks following mask introduction there's a fall in infections?! Please, just one. There surely must be one?

Cuba. On first glance, after their April introduction, we think *boom* we're onto a winner. But oh no, they slipped off noses in August. Though low numbers overall. Bravo Cuba! Maybe it's the cigars.

Morocco. A now familiar story. I can only assume mask fatigue.

El Salvador. This could be the smoking gun!!! Only nope, they brought them in in mid April. Damn.

Beautiful Argentina. One of the most compliant wearers in the world. Over 10k cases a day. Brought in back in April. Surely these things bloody work?! I keep getting told they reduce infections?

Philippines. THE highest compliance in the world. Not so good.

So let's address some of Europe. UK - now mandatory in shops, public transport etc, legal requirement so high compliance. Seems to have only INCREASED since introduction and tightening of the rules. DAMN THIS DATA!!!

Spain in recent months starting forcing people to wear them outside all the time, inc on the beach. At first I got a little excited here, but oh no, the same old story. Introduce masks, get no fall or data movement whatsoever.

France seem to be having more infections that earlier in the year AFTER mandating masks and forcing poor sods to wear them outside the Louvre. I'm sure it's absolute coincidence and not cause-and-effect, but certainly no data reduction, at all.

So I think we're done here. I've desperately tried to find a data point to prove any data movement in the right direction after a mask mandate or an increase in use. I simply fine NONE. NADA. ZILCH. ZERO.

I am thoroughly bored of people telling me they reduce infections when all I see is rising infections and no correlation between a control and movement in data to prove infection reduction. It simply doesn't exist.
So continue to believe/guess, but don't say you have proof.