You've stumbled on the true reason the wearing of masks is so popular (it has really become quite a fad): No matter how ineffective and how uncomfortable to wear masks are and even in the face of studies that in fact show prolonged mask-wearing often has negative health effects on the wearer, wearing a mask assuages the anxiety of the wearer and gives them the courage to venture outside of their homes and be around other people.
And by feeling confident to leave the homes,mask-wearers are actually performing a "public service" (although not the "service" they think they are performing). Because masks cannot physically stop transmission of "The Virus" -- any virus, for that matter -- wearing them helps build widespread immunity that would otherwise take much longer to achieve if mask-wearers weren't actively -- albeit, unknowingly == participating in the spread of "The Virus".
I look at masks as the medical equivalent of hiding under school desks during a nuke strike.