Yes, you are making a lot of mistakes. No, on the contrary, both studies encourage the use of masks. And it's totally beyond me why you're so bent on distorting the fact and trying to get that dangerous message of discouraging the use of masks.
Go back the first study and read the full sentence that you conveniently cut in the middle:
> In this population, there was no detectable additional benefit of hand sanitizer or face masks over targeted education on overall rates of URIs, but mask wearing was associated with reduced secondary transmission and should be encouraged during outbreak situations.
See the part about secondary transmission which you deleted? Also remember that unlike in that study (which was conducted in households with a known sick patient), in reality, there are sick people (both symptomatic and asymptomatic) whom you don't know in advance that they're sick and do not wear masks --which is something you can't fix by education and instead have to implement mass quarantine because now everything could be infectious and people have to avoid everything.
Second study:
> In conclusion, our results suggest that hand hygiene and facemasks can reduce influenza virus transmission if implemented early after symptom onset in an index patient.
And make sure you also read the word influenza, and remember that with COVID-19, the main driver is asymptomatic cases by far. Which means everyone should wear a mask.
> Aren't masks common in both South Korea and China?
Yes, masks are common in China and South Korea now, which is reflected in their low transmission rates: China 0.06%, South Korea: 2.0%. Compare that to 35% in US. Initial outbreaks in China and South Korea were driven by people not using masks. The spread rates plummeted after the implementation of countermeasures which include, surprise, use of masks by everyone!
> That said, if you are asymptotic you aren't coughing or sneezing, so I'm unsure of how helpful a mask would be.
Coughing isn't the only way people spread water droplets ---people do that just by talking. Virus is also carried in aerosol that remain in the air for longer periods. Coronavirus isn't the only thing that cause sneezing or coughing (especially in this season, so there could be people who think they just have pollen allergies while in reality they are symptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2). And regardless, it obviously is better than nothing. Yes, it's not going to be 100% effective, but even a 1% difference will be the difference between life and death for some people in your community.
Really, what are you trying to achieve by pushing this nonsense? If all people in the US don't start using masks already, they won't be able to achieve the success in suppressing the spread rates seen in Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong (all are countries where mask usage by everyone is high) within the same time frame. The growth will be stronger, there will be far more sick people and more and more fatalities. Is this what you want? If not, just stop, please, and start acting responsible as a member of your community. Please.
