“Most virus particles that are emitted from people are attached to spittle or similar excretions much larger than 1 micron.”
While I agree with the size science that only works in labs and text books.
In the real untrained world that I have observed as I have sit and watched John Q Public enter and exit businesses it doesn’t work out that well.
JQP takes mask that has been saturated by infected snot and grabs it with their bare hand thereby now contaminating their hand that then grabs a door handle, cart, or product on the shelf and then the contaminates wait for the next victim to arrive. JQP puts infected snot mask and stuffs it in their pocket once in vehicle and repeats the above process all over again in the next store.
Mask for the general sheeple public are super spreaders in my opinion, but your mileage may vary.
It has been said by many doctors and numerous studies that “surgical” masks only offer “some” protection when fitted properly, worn properly, not touched and disposed of properly. All of which requires training to accomplish.
But even then surgical masks are not really meant to protect the doctor or the patient from respiratory viruses. Resp. viruses don’t really take hold in the body through open wounds such as injuries or surgical openings. They require mucous membranes to replicate and proximity to the lungs and sinuses.
Surgical masks are primarily meant to keep the doctor’s bacteria, which is ever present in all healthy people, from entering openings in soft tissue and the body cavity.