Well I've read some studies, certain not all or even the majority of them but enough I think to dismiss the notion that the kinds of masks people generally wear offer any significant protection. I also read a few that 'clearly' showed the benefits of masks but that were later dismissed for this reason or that, though by then popular media had already championed the initial, faulty, findings and the damage was done.

I would be happy to read good studies that show that a cloth mask or similar protects against CoViD or similar but the best of my knowledge they don't exist. Feel free to prove me wrong, but throwing out the phrase "fake news" and then hinting at a body of exotic studies that when taken together tell a completely different story is just more obfuscation.