Did you completely miss the now-old news where they reversed-course on discouraging the public from wearing masks and encouraged everyone to improvise with cloth masks? The surgeon general even demonstrated how to make one out of an old T-Shirt and rubber bands.
Even if they aren't nearly as good as N95 they still reduce the viral load if you do encounter someone with the disease and they do lower your chances of spreading it.
Nearly 5 minutes in he begins talking about a mask study with hamsters that certainly didn't get N95 masks.
There's another point most miss regarding any face mask for coronavirus: by using one, you won't be touching your mouth or nose because both are covered by the mask, thus it's much less likely you'll infect yourself via touching contaminated surfaces.
It's perfectly normal for anyone to touch their own mouth / nose
involuntarily and the mask serves as a reminder NOT to touch those areas.
Another aspect most people miss:
- face masks aren't 100% effective, even those N95 ones
- social distancing isn't 100% effective but helps a great deal
- hand washing isn't 100% effective because you can touch a contaminated spot AFTER washing you hands and infect yourself that way
HOWEVER, combine all three and you'll have something that's
over 99% effective in protecting yourself:
- social distancing helps to cover the % face masks don't cover
- face masks help by making sure you don't touch your mouth / nose with your hands, in case you may have touched some place that was contaminated
- by washing hands you make sure you don't have virus literally on your hands and even if you touch a contaminated surface, you won't infect yourself so long as you're using a mask