In all the questions I’ve been directly asked or encountered online during the COVID pandemic, the effectiveness of masks is undoubtedly the most frequent. And rightfully so, when recommendations have swung so far from one side to the other it’s hard to know what to do. Added to the confusion are research studies that show masks are effective and others that show that they aren’t, and it becomes nearly impossible to make sense of it all. So what’s the truth? Are masks really effective?