Earlier quoted context omitted.
If he meant that "cloth masks aren't good enough " he could have said that. But he's a senator. His statement was a dog whistle to his base. They're not looking for an argument that people should be wearing N95s, they want to discredit all masking. The word "prevent" is a red herring -- nothing is 100% -- the goal is to decrease infection, not prevent it.
I am pretty sure a large number of people on "your side" (for the record I am on Rand's side on this) want to prevent it We have evidence of this First you said "2 weeks to flatten the curve" we did that, and flattened the curve hospitals were saved ... but you were not appeased then you said "a few months to reduce the deaths" we did that and death rate dropped... but you were not appeased Then you said "a few more…
Several countries succeeded in elimination of community transmission, some more than once. Sadly, global coordination is just never going to allow for that at scale.