Vaccine is the only defense.

But I dont mind masks, they have a lot of ancillary benefits. I wear them when I go in stores, it costs me nothing.

I don't have a settled view on this, and I'm eager to find good sources of information.

Virus aren't magic.

So I could be wrong, but I don't think we can get away with such simple reasoning.

The OP is not "removed from reality", they are correct. We had many ways that we could have significantly reduced transmission - e.g. moving the majority of life outdoors (outdoor classrooms, outdoor restaurants/food-carts, outdoor shopping farmer market style). No one wanted to do this at any serious scale.

We need to do things that actually stop the spread, rather than continue useless healthcare theater. Design masks that can properly seal for the majority, or they are useless. Mandate uber drivers to have their windows down during drives - Mandate airlines to not pack people like sardines (which will NEVER happen).

Don't try to take this contrarian attitude with folks like this, it just makes you look like an ass. OP is not an anti-vaxxer. OP is not trying to hurt others. OP is frustrated y the lack of efficacy of current mitigation strategies.

But yes, most masks seem to fit very poorly indeed.

All the empirical evidence (like the epidemic curves in countries that do require N95) points that they don't.

"The relative risk of 0.17 suggests that wearing an N95 respirator reduces the risk of a SARS-CoV 1 and 2 viral infection to 17% of this population wearing the surgical mask."