Should we wear masks? Absolutely. It is hypocritical for doctors to say no to us wearing them, even saying that we are more likely to get sick wearing them, while they use them for protection when interacting with us. Granted there is a shortage of masks at the moment, but I imagine that will solve itself shortly and the more people that wear masks, the slower the China Coronavirus spread.
And of course you are correct. There really are good reasons people should wear respirators in public. I have posted that I believe they are starting to realize there can be significant aerosolized transmission of this virus. But you have to realize, these masks were never intended to be used medically. Outside a negative pressure room. By people who are trained in their use. Dumping 330 Million masks on an uneducated public won’t be 100% successful.
There was a controversy that upset me a little during the AIDS epidemic. Prior to that if you were staff at a hospital one assumed catching a disease from a patient was like a “workplace accident”. The healthcare industry realized just a few such cases opened them up to a liability they couldn’t survive. So they lobbied, got some laws and created what has been Industry Policy for 4 decades. “Universal Precautions”. In their favor they concurrently applied a “system of protecting staff” that was highly effective but in the “fine print” they were indemnified from liability. Now there were fool proof infrastructure, trading (highly documented), and policies in place if you got infected in their building it was YOUR fault. I remember it well because that was when I really started to hate politicians.