Avoiding the sick, and keeping one's distance from non-family others, is just a good idea, and not just for COVID-19.
"Don't sleep on an airplane with your head against a window": excellent advice over the years. Just remember that some public health agencies swap commercial aircraft windows to determine just what is "going around."
“Avoiding the sick, and keeping one’s distance from non-family others, is just a good idea, and not just for COVID-19.”
COVID is a genuinely social disease, in the sense that people who are highly social and constantly interacting with other people are likely to get it at one time or another. The surprising thing is that Biden has not gotten it yet. He must be taking an almost paranoid series of precautions not to get it, since many persons in social situations that are a lot less intense than he’s been in have gotten it.
The particle science people are correct, in that particles get through. However, even after 31 months we don't have a TCID90, which would be required to determine HOW MANY PARTICLES must be excluded to prevent transmission.
The low attack rate among bedside nurses and doctors suggests they are doing SOMETHING right in terms of protective gear.
As far as outdoor exposures, it seems unlikely that virus concentrations can be high enough to cause transmission.
Indoors is a whole other thing. In hospitals, small, poorly ventilated break rooms and conference rooms have caused many well-documented transmission events. Big indoor spaces, like supermarkets and Sam's Club are probably safe for most people, but if a relative of mine were working checkout to have 100+ exposures in an hour or two to unmasked people from 2-3 feet away I would have them wear a mask.
"Follow the science" is a slogan when the science is so poor.