Masks decrease the chances of spreading Covid-19 to others. Did NYC have any kind of N95 specification?
Agreed on masks preventing spreading the disease. As all sane and intelligent Americans know, the N95 mask is to prevent catching the virus as opposed to spreading it. The person you are conversing with is intelligent, but he doesn't have all the dots on his dice. Ergo, don't expect a rational answer.
Yes, it'd be great if we all had N95 masks, face shields and hazmat suits, but that's impractical in a nation of 328M. Doing what we can to prevent spreading the virus is rational. Those who are against are irrational.