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I think the question now is should you wear a mask to keep from getting a cold which is basically what the current covid is

I can post study after study, but perhaps they aren't compelling. 

They aren't compelling at all.  I've done my own study and the failure rate is 100%.

My wife-- has been wearing masks with her patients for the past 2.5 years.  Sometimes her patients also wear a mask, sometimes they don't.  But in this case, the patient was also wearing a mask, and it's the very first time a patient has told her after a session "Hey I developed symptoms shortly after our appointment and then I tested positive."  And then a couple days later, my wife tested positive.  This is the first and only time in 2.5 years that a direct contact trace with a known positive case has occurred, and it penetrated the mask.  That represents a 100% failure rate of the mask working, against a known positive.

My son- had been wearing a mask at school for over a year.  All other students were required to wear masks.  The first and only time we were notified of a direct contact trace from a confirmed positive child in his class, a child he sat with for an hour every day at a distance of about 2-3', it penetrated the mask.  That represents a 100% failure rate of the mask working, against a known positive.

My daughter is the exact same story.  Both kids wearing masks, sit next to each other for an hour per day at less than 6', the first and only time we're notified of a direct contact trace from a known positive, and my daughter turns up positive as well.  That represents a 100% failure rate of the mask working, against a known positive.

100% failure rate in my own clinical study.  I'm satisfied with the accuracy and legitimacy of my conclusion.

And I don't think much of bullshit studies that arrive at incorrect conclusions, especially when they concern serious matters of public health.

I can agree with both of your arguments

as could you

It's all just a matter of perspective and opinion.  I don't believe that cloth or surgical masks make enough of a difference to warrant any mask mandates as a matter of public policy with respect to concerns over coronavirus transmission, especially given the increasingly mild and endemic nature of COVID19.

But of course, people are free to take whatever personal precautions they like regarding their own health concerns.  If folks want to wear masks, more power to them.

And if folks are feeling ill, then they should stay at home, rather than leave their house and trust that a mask will protect others from their own sickness.  This should be Lesson#1 that we've learned through all of this.

Sure.  And at this point, mandating masks just because someone might be asymptomatic and have it, isn't going to cut it.

The pandemic's over.  COVID is now endemic.  

The government and everyone else need to understand that, and account for it, in matters of public policy.

If you're really afraid of catching it, then go ahead and self-isolate.  But the rest of the world deserves to be done with that.

Yup I'll wear a mask if a business requires it.  They probably need to provide the masks at this point, though-- I stopped carrying mine around over a year ago.

I just tested positive for COVID-19

crappy fever, headache, and tired as hell

went to bed at 8pm last night, slept on and off for 14 hours