I think poor mask hygiene actually made covid spread worse. Mask hygiene was practially non-existent. I know because I was trained and fit tested for masks and respirators as PPE my entire career.
I always wear an actual PAPR hood/helmet system in Covid rooms. There’s no way I’m going into a Covid room with just an N95. Others did. I saw plenty of other nurses on my unit get Covid and a couple of them were sick enough to get admitted. They had asthma. I have been in a lot a lot a lot of Covid rooms too. The problem is when you’re in a Covid room and you don’t know it because they’re initial complaint didn’t suggest it but further work up suggested it. I typically erred on the side of just throwing the CAPR on until I had a warm fuzzy feeling in my gut.