I'm aware different masks have different levels of protection but I consider the point of
all masks to be mainly to protect others. Having any mask on is better than no mask. Plus, everyone wearing masks alone won't totally help if people don't also stay 6 feet apart. The mask is only one part of the equation. Maybe people in my area don't get that? Maybe they think it's safe to approach me if I have a mask on? Is that why the non-mask people are coming close to me?
That happened to us on our one and only outing. I just don't get it. A woman approached our car as we were trying to get into it, stepped between me and the car to bend down and look at the brand badge on the car (!?) She was just a couple of feet from me, so I had to back up.
I think people truly just revert to their normal behavior OR for some people, CoVid just isn't happening. They don't get it, they don't understand.
I know that if I require a simple thing in my lab, there were ALWAYS be 1-2 who don't/can't do it. I've tried to figure out why and one thing I found in simple memory experiments is that in a group of 30 reasonably literate (able to read at 10th grade level) young adults, they struggle mightily with remembering almost anything at all for even a brief period of time. This group is very very slow at getting things. I've been doing lots of memory experiments in lab ever since. There are ways to get them to improve, but basically they need constant reminders to write things down, cues to go look up what they wrote down, etc.
I think any teacher will tell you the same.
The masks DO help protect you though - depending on what kind. That's how Asia has controlled CoVid - more masks than social distancing. If you're using fabric, find a way to insert a filter (there's a great thread here on WS, as you probably know -
@JaneEyre posts some excellent info over there, I'm looking into filters).
And consider adding a face shield. But you're right about the social distancing thing. And right now, in my actual neighborhood, everyone I encounter gets it - but going anywhere else (stores, etc) they don't. My not so much at risk husband has been doing all of that. I know he's going to be very irritated if we do go out and anyone else approach us, he was speechless when that woman approached. I was stern with her, btw, I have been a teacher for 40 years.