Well I am not sure I know much more or less than anyone else in terms of the nuances of this virus, which we know relatively little about.
We do know these 3 things though:
1) China sucks
2) China needs to pay the piper
3) China sucks
In regard to masks specifically though, I guess I kind of have mixed feelings...
Generally speaking yes, I think they could have played a valuable role in the early stages if used responsibly by the general public. This means not reusing the same mask multiple times, putting it on or off with “dirty” hands, and constantly fiddling with it once it is in place.
Even if mandated early, I’m not sure enough people were taking it seriously enough (some still aren’t) to be accepting of that, and if they were- they would certainly be the ones to use masks in a half-assed manner that could put themselves more at risk, and then the people they may be in contact with who are using their mask in a less than optimal manner and potentially not using proper hand hygiene. On the other hand, they are helpful in containing a cough when in place either way, so that counts for something..
We have only had one staff member in our entire hospital test positive for COVID-19, and we are not doing routine employee testing. This is actually quite interesting...
She was somebody (we have many) who assisted in gowning us COVID unit workers with all of our paraphernalia, which was done in a fairy meticulous manner on both parts. If they touched our equipment after coming out of the unit, they would have to be gowned/gloved etc. They wore a surgical mask at ALL times, yet not an N95 or face shield if they had to do any tasks that put them in direct contact of “dirty” PPE etc..
Then again, she could have contracted it from outside the hospital. Nonetheless, I was called at home once she tested positive for having a potential exposure. When you spend your day job in a COVID unit sometimes less than a foot away from an infected persons mouth, that incident didn’t particularly concern me