The point is if masks are ineffective with health care workers who k is how to fit and wear them they are even more useless in the general public. I firmly believe masks make it worse. Joe sox pack goes into the grocery store wearing the same mask that has been in his car for a month. It is loaded with bacteria and respiratory secretions. While in the store he adjusts the mask multiple times and then touches other surfaces with his contaminated hands. done in the store? the mask with his cooties plus the other cooties he picked up touching things in the store goes in his pocket or glove box etc to marinate until the next use....
For most people unconcerned with their personal hygiene, uneducated in how PPE works and how to handle oneself WRT to said PPE amid a myriad of other issues like proper fitment, etc. yeah, it is more harmful than good.
To just impugn every cloth mask or surgical mask wearer is (IMO) a bit beyond the pale though. The same goes for the inanimate object (the mask itself) as they can be more or less effective depending on a lot of variables, get all of them right and efficacy of prevention might rise up to the 20% level.
None of the methods are worthless, but their worth in general public use is highly questionable and certainly doesn’t rise to any level of efficacy that would or should be convincingly presented as anything but a small percentage differential at best. (3-5% decrease of transmission likelihood in the right hands is something to consider, but it certainly isn’t worth all the brouhaha.)