> We know that such viruses have to enter your body through eyes, ears, nose or throat or there’s no way to get an infection. Why do you think it’s so surprising that blocking access to your respiratory system by a filter that is small enough to exclude the virus (whether cold, flu or COVID) prevents you from getting sick?
I never said it would be surprising, I did however say that taking that seemingly plausible argument and immediately concluding that masks would meaningfully reduce infections in a whole population is premature. As you just said, viruses enter the body through multiple mucous membranes, so if everyone who wears masks doesn't wear them properly, or still touches their eyes and doesn't sanitize their hands properly before eating, the effect of masks could still be minimal.
> Furthermore, if I recall correctly there’s studies showing efficacy of having even a basic cloth covering helps because the thickness of the material means that even if the virus is small enough to get through, the probability of crossing all the layers through the cloth is harder
It's important to keep in mind that 50% of studies in medicine fail to replicate. Don't put too much stock in "I saw a study".
> Picking up illness from contact with a surface -> touching your face is a much more difficult infection vector than the direct access port available through the communication ports on your head.
Is it? Do you have empirical data to support this claim? I'm sure it seems plausible to you, just like it seemed plausible to those old doctors you mentioned that a gentleman's hands were always clean, but I think the real lesson is that we should rely on empirical data and not only on seemingly plausible arguments from seemingly plausible assumptions.
Which isn't to say that advising people to wear masks is necessarily a bad idea either, but there's a world of difference between "this seems like a good idea if you're cautious or want to reduce your changes of getting sick" and "you're a terrible person if you don't do this because this is proven to work".