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What makes masking of the general population so ineffective is not just that most common fabrics cannot stop something as small as a virus, the main reason they don't work -- and reality over the past eight months demonstrates clearly that masks are ineffective against a virus -- is because of the way everyday people, untrained in the selection, fitting, testing, wearing and maintaining of personal protective equipment (specifically, a mask) do so quite improperly, incorrectly and foolishly.

That is, you just can't slap a mask over your nose and mouth without carefully applying, then fit-testing it to form a seal completely around it (critical when dealing with something as infinitessimally as small as a virus), then not touching or moving it at any time once that seal has been established ... otherwise, you need to start all over again applying and fit-testing the seal. Oh, by the way, the mask cannot be worn over facial hair or contact any raised facial blemishes above the surface of the skin; otherwise, you'll never be able to seal it completely around its perimeter and it becomes essentially useless ... except that it may provide a bit of psychological benefit to people who remain scared out of their friggin' minds over this virus.

That's just the way it is with masks.