If that's consistent with reality, then what exactly does the CDC exist for if not to study if masks control disease?
SARS-CoV2 isn't the world's first coronavirus by any stretch of the imagination. The fact that seemingly the whole country spent months debating whether masks can stop a virus tells us all we need to know, which is that organizations like the CDC fail. There's zero reason why we had to act like we were starting from scratch other than to trick people into not buying up masks.
In fact, it had nothing to do with changing information because the information straight from the horse's mouth tells the contrary:
That is at best around a 2% reduction in deaths associated with masks. For all intents and purposes, mask mandates can never stop the virus or even do much at all to reduce it. 2% would make me question whether there's even any meaningful causation.
We have this information, but we decided to literally double-down by hilariously telling people to double-mask. This isn't the scientific method in action.
*reduction after state mask mandates in the united states. It's an important distinction because mask mandates in the US were followed at varying levels, from relatively stringent to barely at all. Separately, I don't think anyone ever claimed masks (outside of a properly fitted n95) stop the virus, only that it reduces the spread. Lastly, if an area's hospitals have only a few open ICU beds available, then even 2% would be significant enough to warrant mandates in the future.