(I didn't downvote), I see what you're saying, but it is complex. If you spend an hour in a poorly ventilated classroom/office space/cubicle farm full of people, and your cloth mask gets damp from your breath, and the CO2 level hits 2000+ meaning the air circulation is extremely poor, is it really believable that a cloth mask is doing anything at all?

A well fit KN95 is drastically preferable, readily available, and highly affordable. No idea why these aren't being promoted as the only safe choice.

Because (at least in the US) the “optics” of a “KN95 as the only safe choice” message would be that the past encouragement of the cloth varieties as reasonably effective was wrong.

It would further decrease the credibility of the government/CDC/Fauci because it would be perhaps the (fourth or fifth?) shifting mask advisory that we have seen in the last 18 months.

Don't understand the downvotes ...

basic science: "Anything that reduces droplet velocity and interferes with aerosol dispersion is by definition better than nothing." here are some supercomputer simulations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAvO_QdO9eM

This site is full of people who, in defiance of Feynman, are absolutely sure that they're the ones who will finally come up with a way to fool Mother Nature. They don't care about science, simulations, or common sense.

To be fair, as insufferable as this attitude can be, it's probably necessary in order for progress to happen. It usually drags us in the other direction, though.