I think that's what the parent was saying. The widespread wearing of just about any face covering seems to help on net even if it's probably >50% about protecting other people. Even if higher-level protective gear were readily available, most people wouldn't wear for any length of time and it wouldn't be fitted properly. So just wear something seems to be the most reasonable advice for the general population.
Do you have proof that people would not wear better protection and that it would be ineffective even if they did to due fit issues? Or are you just making an assumption?
The fact that N95 masks were and still are selling for such high prices seems to be evidence against this view. I assume this view is most popular among Americans because Americans seem to represent the majority of anti-maskers.
Where I live everyone wears a mask but very few people wear N95 masks simply because they are more expensive and hard to find. If COVID is short range aerosol infectious as some evidence suggests greater N95 mask availability and usage may affect infection rates at least outside of the US. How significant a difference this might make is simply unknown at this time.
