Two-time U.S. champion, Olympic hopeful Alysa Liu out of U.S. Figure Skating Championships due to positive COVID-19 test

ESPN ^ | 1/8/2022 | ASSociated Press

[Svartalfiar]

Now place tightly just a thin handkerchief on the mouth of faucet. Observe the rate of water flowing out. You will notice even a thin material obstruction reduces water flow significantly.

So if an infected person wearing mask coughs or sneezes or talks loud, the amount of virus material exuded will be less than without a mask. Reduced virus material exuded = less virus material for others to breathe in.

You forgot the last part of the experiment. Simulate being near this infected person:
Place a cup in the stream for 30 seconds. Drink it. Even with the thin handkerchief, was there enough water to get a drink? Sure, maybe not a full glass - but I bet there was still plenty of water for several gulps. You need a very tight filter, with a very tight seal, to only get enough water to not be worth drinking.

Not to mention, how tight did you have to attach the cloth to the faucet to prevent the water from pushing around the sides of it? Had to loop that rubber band around it pretty tightly, no?

And now the cloth is "infected" - how did you remove it from your faucet? Carefully barely touching the edges, so you didn't get any water on your hands, right? And you definitely tossed this into your biohazard bin, you didn't hang it up to dry so you can use it again next time you need some filtered water, right?