It is obviously not absolute protection and of course going nowhere at all is the best protection, but a properly worn N95 combined with up-to-date vaccination goes pretty far for someone who is fortunate enough to not be already immunocompromised and is fine avoiding places like concerts, clubs and bars.
Citation needed that it’s not being outdoors or a well-ventilated space that is doing all of the work and not the mask.
> but a properly worn N95 combined with up-to-date vaccination goes pretty far for someone who is fortunate enough to not be already immunocompromised and is fine avoiding places like concerts, clubs and bars.
You’re all over the place here. I’m talking specifically about avoiding all of those things as well but just skipping the mask. The risk profiles between those two are so negligible that skipping a single trip out to an enclosed space is orders of magnitude better than the difference between them.
That’s why what you’re doing is just a “religious act” at this point. There is no good medical reason for you to wear it if you’re already going out. 99.999% of the risk comes from the “going out” part if everyone else is unmasked, so wtf are you doing at a grocery store/restaurant/whatever if you are actually worried about getting COVID?
It’s no different than bringing a parachute on a commercial flight. The chance of you crashing on a flight are tiny and the probability of you being able to use a parachute if you are in one of those scenarios and surviving are less than 1% as well.
If you actually care about Covid the answer is to not leave the house. Putting an n95 on when the mandates are gone so nobody else is wearing one is just a religious act at this point.