>Surgical masks aren't about protecting the wearer from everyone else, they're about protecting everyone else from the wearer [1]. They may provide the wearer some protection, but that's not really the point.

I think you're confusing the normal use for these masks with what they are actually capable of doing. Yes, in a surgical setting the masks are worn primarily to protect the patient from the surgeon, but the masks do work both ways. Here's a citation from an infectious disease specialist:

https://www.health.com/condition/cold-flu-sinus/surgical-mas...

>“Yes, a surgical mask can help prevent the flu,” Sherif Mossad, MD, an infectious disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, tells Health. “Flu is carried in air droplets, so a mask would mechanically prevent the flu virus from reaching other people.” It would work both ways, says Dr. Mossad, preventing transmission of the flu virus to others and for keeping a mask-wearer from picking up an infection.

> Surgical masks aren't about protecting the wearer from everyone else, they're about protecting everyone else from the wearer [1]. They may provide the wearer some protection, but that's not really the point.

Normal people using surgical masks in public are definitely also for protecting the wearer, and do offer protection.

"Any type of general mask use is likely to decrease viral exposure and infection risk on a population level, in spite of imperfect fit and imperfect adherence, personal respirators providing most protection."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440799/

Additionally, the number of asymptomatic carriers who may be able to spread the disease is possibly quite large.

In a scenario where we don’t have enough tests to determine who does and doesn’t have this virus, shouldn’t be we encourage more mask wearing?

I know what their stated purpose is, but it is true that wearing a mask protects the wearer as well to a degree. Stating that it doesn't (as many in the media / CDC / politicians have said) is factually incorrect. If they want to say that masks need to be preserved for healthcare workers or sick people, then they should say so and I would agree, but when they start bullshitting to try to trick people into the behavior that they want then it completely undermines their credibility. People then start asking things like "is it actually true that we need to socially distance or is that a lie as well?" The number one thing you should not do during times of crisis is start lying.

For example, I don't trust the WHO much anymore because they lied and said that closing China's borders would not stop the spread of corona behind pressure from the Chinese government.