The reason some people still mask is very simple: For anyone who follows basic science, not what the crowd is doing -- N95 masks in enclosed / crowded situations are still a good idea, especially for those of a certain age.
Many people continue to wear useless (or only marginally) useful masks, and in non-crowded situations (even way out in the open). Which of course ranges from silly to, at best, only marginally useful. However it seems safe to suppose that they're doing so primarily out of strictly rational concerns (however faulty their understanding of better masking practices may be). Some partially, or entirely out of fear (an understandable reaction, if they've experienced a heavy bout of Covid, or have seen its effects in others).
Also, some may remember the temporary shortage of N95s, and still think they're being good, self-sacrificing citizens by wearing less effective (or even basically useless) masks. Or they just don't like wearing N95s because they're too constricting (meaning, "too effective"). However, that is at best a secondary factory, and not the main reason why they choose to mask in the first place.
But to recap: For the vast majority of folks who mask, it's out of (perhaps flawed) sense of pragmatism -- not because they are superstitious idiots, or primarily motivated by some subconscious desire to make a social statement about "who they are".
Normal people stay home when they're sick, they don't infect others, and the basic science takes care of that just fine. If crazy people want to follow "basic science" and mask up and go out in public while they're carrying an infectious viral load, then I guess we're in Japan or something.
If "basic science" compels the general populace to mask up, even when we're uninfected, unexposed, vaccinated, and asymptomatic, then I feel sorry for basic science because it's jumped the shark.
However everyone is tired of masking now, and prefers to forget this.
Then I saw reality, where a medical professional would politely remove her mask to sneeze.
Many reasons, not everything is about virtue signaling or other hyper-partisan political crap.
Disposable/cloth masks that do absolutely nothing to prevent the spread of an airborne disease like Covid do still work with diseases (like the Flu) with a droplet based spread.
> CDC says seasonal flu cases hit record lows around the world
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/cold-and-flu/cdc-says-seasona...
The problem was the cult of people claiming that a disposable/cloth mask could be effective against an airborne disease, and being exceptionally hateful to anyone who wouldn't go along with this view.
However, it can catch the comparatively large droplets you produce when someone with the Flu coughs or sneezes.
Which explains why global Flu cases (with a droplet based spread) fell to all time lows while Covid (fully airborne) continued to spread like wildfire.
From basic physics -- of course it can. They don't work particularly well, but they do partly obstruct small droplet flow. In any case, there are easily findable studies about this asserting that even that crap-ola disposable masks have at least some measurable efficacy.
How exactly does physics allow a disposable mask that completely lacks a barrier to entry on the sides filter the air?
> In hospitals, the word “airborne” is associated with a rigid set of protective methods, including the use of N95 respirators by workers and negative pressure rooms for patients. These are resource-intensive and legally required.
https://time.com/6162065/covid-19-airborne-transmission-conf...
Medical professionals are not only required to use at least an n95 mask, they are required to keep it so tightly fitted to their face that unfiltered air cannot leak in through the sides. So tightly fitted that it digs into their skin.
> Exhausted doctors and nurses post images of their bruised faces after long shifts wearing protective gear
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-health-care-bruised...
Just because N95s are clearly better doesn't mean disposables are useless. Because, like, basic logic and stuff.
How does that prevent Covid from passing through the sides?
> Just because N95s are clearly better doesn't mean disposables are useless.
They are useless because they cannot possibly filter the virus out of the air that you breathe.
I like the way a member of President Biden's Covid advisory group put it.
If it can't prevent you from smelling cigarette smoke in the room, it cannot filter out Covid, since the smoke particles are on the same order of size.
Unfortunately we're going in circles here, and I'm going to have to bow out. You can believe whatever you want, about basic physics or anything else. It's a free planet, after all.
It seems a little hard to psychologically disentangle what one does for social approval vs for other reasons. For example, maybe it feels emotionally uncomfortable to not mask. Is it because the subconscious is worried about disease, or because the subconscious is worried about social approval? Probably some of both, but if we removed one perhaps the external behavior would change, hard to tell.
Also IME it seems to cluster with other appearance related traits (e.g. type of dress, mannerisms, etc).