Am I missing something? Can it be the case that, if the public wear masks whilst observing social distancing outside the science shows those masks have no beneficial effects in preventing them contracting the Covid-19. However, at the same time it is vital that NHS staff, working in close proximity with a room full of infected people have masks to prevent them from getting the disease.

Is it the case that the greater the likelihood of infection the better the masks work? And the less the likelihood of infection the worse they work? Is there one or two sciences at work here? An indoor and outdoor perhaps?

Is not the truth of the matter that masks do help but there are not enough of them? In circumstances where masks are limited it makes absolute sense to prioritise the available resources to those who are most at risk and in a hierarchy of risk the general public are at the bottom. What is more I suspect there are few members of the general public who would want to be the cause of front line staff not being able to get the PPE that their job demands.

Given this why do the Government not say so. I suspect we are going to find over the next few days that the indoor and outdoor “science” will come together and it will not be about the pointlessness of masks.

The public face a much lower level of risk given their ability to exercise social distancing. This is not open to people caring for those with the disease. A purpose made protective mask is vital for the latter. Something, that may be less effective but have some benefit would still seem to make sense, so a home made mask is probably a reasonable precaution. If it is the case, say, you can get 70% of the benefit of a mask from a scarf or some other home made variant whilst supplies of proper face masks are limited why not say this.

Whilst I have a lot of sympathy with those actually managing this disaster it annoys me when the general public want clear advice about whether they should wear cotton masks over their nose and mouth and the government’s response is to try to pull a mask of woolly “science” over their eyes.