None of this is binary. It's not sick or not sick. There is a viral load component, where a persons body can fight off a certain amount of virus.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwu...
Whether the droplet/aerosol float through the air has to do with much more than particle size.
"There was just one literally tiny problem: “The physics of it is all wrong,” Marr says. That much seemed obvious to her from everything she knew about how things move through air. Reality is far messier, with particles much larger than 5 microns staying afloat and behaving like aerosols, depending on heat, humidity, and airspeed."
I mean that the masks can and do stop some droplets and larger particles, but smaller particles pass through and around them readily. It seems like really small particles might be causing infections with newer variants. But I'm also not sure what we even know for sure about this at the moment. A lot of mask research has been don with modeling or lab setups to spray liquids through them. The narrower set of real world studies cast a lot of doubt on anything but N95s worn properly. So I'm not sure where that leaves us.
"It is important to wear a mask or respirator when you are sick or caring for someone who is sick with COVID-19."
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-si...
"Wear a high-quality and well-fitting mask if you must be around others (for example: going to get tested), even in your home."
https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/sick.htm...
Framing masking as protecting the wearer was done to psychologically make people care. People are more likely to care about themselves, than others.
The majority of stores (grocery and otherwise) introduced curbside pickup options early in the pandemic, which at least provides more options for someone who doesn't have access to or can't afford delivery, while removing or minimizing the time they need to spend in-store.
Not a perfect solution, but the options are not "delivery or starve".
It has to do with ventilation too. Taller ceilings probably help. Lower humidity.
Choir is probably a great example of something where closeness isnt the only factor.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwu...
I went to an amusement park. None of the people I was hanging out with had it nor tested positive before or after (they were all testing regularly) so the only other explanations are random people I passed at the park, food that was contaminated, or random covid virus in the air.
Of course my getting it via short contact does not invalidate the idea that most of it is spread via prolonged contact. But, given I just caught it via short contact I'm not going to stop taking prevenative measures in situations with only short contacts.
