Working in medical, there are specific situations that necessitate masks due to risk mitigation. That includes surgeries, certain hospital wings, etc. We also have to have them on hand for patient request.
Over the winter, it was all-in in patient/public areas. Basically, “everyone’s sick, and none of us can afford to be out” kind of thing, functioning on the idea that everyone was sick for two months. Once the illness died back down, we’re back to “patient request unless you’re actively sick.” I keep mine on hand for bad pollution days in the summer, as well, since our air is bad.
For people like Lou, it’s about “Look, I CARE about people!” He’s trying to virtue signal in person while he calls people retarded on the internet. But he should be referencing it as a “dust mask” instead of a “COVID mask”. That’s what the custom fabric masks are — dust masks.