Interesting new paper out recently about the effectiveness of wearing masks indoors in public settings. This is real data, finally!

Cloth mask: 56% lower odds of catching the virus
Surgical mask: 66% lower odds of catching the virus
N95 or KN95 mask: 83% lower odds of catching the virus

Note that this is not about protecting other people from you. This about you protecting your self. So your odds of shopping for food unscathed are much better if you wear a tight-fitting quality mask, covering your mouth and nose. Your nose is your most susceptible part, so wearing a mask with your nose exposed is completely worthless. This kind of effectiveness almost rivals vaccination, so keep wearing those masks folks, even if a store does not require it.

This is for indoor public spaces. Outdoors, with some distance and good hand hygiene they really don't do much.

Educating anyone benefits everyone.