> but study after study comes out showing they don’t stop spread

I'm curious to hear what studies you were thinking of. FWIW, N95 filter material has been repeatedly seen to block viral particles.

In the Cochrane review [1] they found

> relatively low adherence with the interventions during the studies hampers drawing firm conclusion

That is, studies which took a random group of people and said "please wear a mask, so we can see if you catch less $DISEASE," weren't effective...because people wouldn't wear the mask. This is, I think, a useful result--but it doesn't mean that wearing a mask doesn't stop disease from spreading; it means that telling people to wear a mask doesn't work so well.

[1]: https://www.cochrane.org/CD006207/ARI_do-physical-measures-s...

edit:

> it was dubious as hell when they first pushed it

But why? Why was it dubious that respiratory protection would be effective against a respiratory virus?