Don’t conflate donning a mask for self protection against a virus with donning a simple cloth mask to slow the spread of the virus to others. They are not the same thing.
Mask science is not political science nor social media science. Mask science is science science, and it’s well established Science.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want to put this pandemic behind us and begin to reopen our lives and our economy. However, coronavirus must be addressed first or reopening will blow up in our face. There is one and only one safe way to reopen and that is to reduce the rate that the virus spreads from one person to another to such a level that outbreaks are small, local, and controlled. Ideally that would be accomplished by a vaccine, but until such time as we have a vaccine our tools to slow transmission are, social distancing, hygiene, and masks.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – Golden Rule for Masks
And a word about what I have been calling social media distancing. In the beginning of the Covid lockdowns, I felt like social media distancing would be a personal care type move to lower stress and the physical ramifications of the stress. Now further along in the process I am seeing how the spread of coronavirus mis-information on social media has led people to take actions, such as maskless rallies, parties, and gatherings that directly lead to suffering and in some cases even death. Listen to experts in the field, not just one you see in a meme on Facebook, Twitter, etc, but look for the consensus of several experts and take action based on their recommendations. In my humble opinion, social media distancing leads to more social distancing which leads to safe reopening.
A great article from The Atlantic: The Real Reason to Wear a Mask, goes into great detail and does a great job juxtaposing the two main reasons for mask wearing.