The research is in. Wearing bits of cloth over your mouth and nose is almost certainly pointless, unless you are a bank robber trying to hide his identity.
The news comes from a Cochrane Review, one of the most reliable and thorough forms of scientific research.
The review, which focused on masks and hand-washing, looked at evidence from 78 randomised trials with more than 610,000 participants.
It found that wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to influenza-like or Covid-19-like illness transmission.
This is no great surprise. Before the great panic plunged the world into isolation, house arrest and inflation three years ago, the expert view was that face-coverings were of little help in protecting against the spread of viruses.
Read more: Peter Hitchins: If masks are pointless, will I get an apology?