Maybe fake news, but here is the actual data from California:
Were California county mask mandates effective against delta?
Here's what the data says: Not Really: "hospitalization figures identical"
LINK
Eric Ting SFGATE Oct. 4, 2021
Orange County — a non-mask-mandate county — had a very similar outcome to neighboring Los Angeles County, the first California county to bring back indoor masking in response to delta. Not only were the hospitalization figures identical, but Orange County actually had a lower case rate. Orange County has a similar vaccination rate to Los Angeles County (Los Angeles County's rate for the total population is 61%, just two percentage points lower than Orange County's), which makes it much easier to compare the two counties to one another than it is to compare Solano County to the other Bay Area counties.
Interestingly, San Diego County — which has a higher vaccination rate than Los Angeles and Orange counties — had a higher case rate than those two counties, but similar hospitalization figures. San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties had near-identical hospitalization outcomes despite different mask policies.
Maybe Fauci was right the first time when he said on 60 Minutes:
“There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask,” he answered. “When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.”
Three days later, though, Fauci’s advice went unheeded as mass panic took over when the NBA suspended its season and Tom Hanks announced he had contracted the virus. Masks started getting hoarded right along with hand sanitizer and toilet paper.
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) abruptly changed course on April 3 and began recommending mask-wearing in public, Fauci went along with it, but it was rather obvious he didn’t really believe it.
Can We Finally Admit That Mask-Wearing Was Pointless?
Edited by Rogerdodger, 05 October 2021 - 08:58 AM.