That's an NYT opinion. The reality: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/12041/
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD...
Unlike your study from November 2020, this one is from January 2023.
That's why this really simple thing became so controversial. I mean, if a virus sticks to droplets then it's better to put less droplets into the air. Masks do that. Easy? Should be.
As for what mask do, if it was that easy, there wouldn't be the need of so many studies. But that is not even the claim here. The article says mask mandates make no difference.
Even if we assume that masks work, people wear them wrongly, they reuse them instead of using clean ones, fidget with them and then touch other parts of their face. There are plenty of reasons why a mandate could not work.